Rock School Day, 2011

COLEBROOK — June 15 saw the annual reenactment of a day’s activities in a one-room schoolhouse during the mid-19th century, with a visit to the Rock School by third-graders from Colebrook Consolidated School.The tradition was initiated in 1972, after the 1779 structure was moved from in front of its namesake glacial boulder to a location directly across the road. Basically, the move was made to remove the old school from private property onto land belonging to the Colebrook Historical Society. During the visit, students practice with ink pens, read from McGuffey’s Readers, do arithmetic problems on slates, partake of cookies and lemonade supplied by descendants of former students and play games once played at one-room schools, such as “Anty over the Shanty,” a variation of a tag game with the schoolchildren being divided equally on opposite sides of the building. A ball is then thrown over the roof of the school to be caught by a member of the opposite team. Every Rock School Day ends with the third-grade students having their photo taken as they sit atop the huge boulder. This year’s “school marm” was Mrs. Virginia Manulla, the third-grade teacher at Colebrook Consolidated School.