On September 26, 2024, the 4th graders traveled to the Southeast Wildwood County Park in Kingsley to learn about life as a pioneer. The Pioneer Days field trip was hosted by Victoria DeVos, Plymouth County Conservation. The day began with a demonstration on how to make cornbread in a Dutch Oven and then everyone got to make homemade butter. "We learned that it is faster to make butter if you sing, so we learned a butter-making song: 'Shake, shake, shake, (student’s name) is waiting at the gate, to make a butter cake, shake, shake, shake.' Our butter was indeed ready very quickly," said 4th grade teacher, Denise Rolfes.
Next, the kids were divided into stations so they could take part in pioneer-era activities. In one station, the students played a memory game. There were multiple items that could be scavenged from nature including a deer antler, antelope horn, goose foot, pine cone, and acorn. The kids looked at the items, then they were covered, and one item was removed. The kids then looked at the remaining items and guessed what was missing. Another station had the kids using various sized wooden pieces to make music and play rhythm games. There was also a game station, where the kids tried to throw a rock into a wash basin under the watchful eye of the “captain.” If they missed, they were assigned a punishment. There was lots of running, push-ups, and barking like a dog. One student was heard saying as he ran to the next station, “That was fun!” Finally, there was a candle making station. The comment heard at this station was, “They did this for fun?!”