Gilbert students turn archaeologists for a day

WINSTED — A group of eighth-grade Gilbert School students became “archaeologists” at a simulated excavation on Thursday, Sept. 22.

The simulated excavation took place on a piece of forest property in back of the school.

On the property, Gilbert teachers Kate Rohlfing and Maryann Welcome set up three children’s pools and buried various “artifacts” in them, underneath large mounds of dirt in the pools.

“We did not bury real artifacts in the pools itself, but the whole idea is to get students to do hands-on activities to get them excited to learn,” Rohlfing said. “This is our beginning-of-the-year kickoff activity for students. They’re going to grid these ‘artifacts’ out from the dirt as if they are real artifacts.”

As soon as the students found each artifact, they wrote down the time the artifact was found, its size, weight and description, as if they were real artifacts.

“This ‘archaeological dig’ is similar to something I did around 30 years ago,” Welcome said. “Back then, we did this in the football field in the long jump sand pit. We’re doing this because kids need to take part in activities that are hands on. They are applying knowledge that they can get from a textbook or information from a classroom. This way, they can come out and experience what they learn, and they will remember this.”