GOOD MORNING! GOOD MORNING!

1/2 of Miss Bennett's year 6 class.

This past Wednesday, Leigh and I went on a field trip with a different year 6 class.  We went to Saltaire a town that was founded by Sir Titus Salt in the 1850's. You could argue whether Sir Titus Salt was a good honorable man, or if he had very selfish motives. He moved his whole wool  mill operation outside of Bradford and created a village for his workers to live. These homes were much nicer than the slums they had been living in, but by doing this and creating a village for his workers it also controlled their every move. Even whether they were able to hang their laundry out to dry. He had between 3000 and 4000 workers living in Saltaire. The positive thing he did though was build extra things for his workers, like a school, hospital, library, and concert hall. Overall it provided a better living situation as long as the people were willing to forfeit some of their freedoms.

A view of part of the mill and the canal.

Year 6 has also been spending a lot of time this year studying canals and narrow boats. On this trip they had the opportunity to walk alongside the canal and even see a lock and a swing bridge. They even got a good peek into a narrow boat as we walked by one. I felt sorry for the people inside the boat because all the kids were peering at. We told them not to stare, but it's hard for kids to NOT stare sometimes. 

Goooood Moorrning!!!!

 My favorite memory of this trip was while we were walking in our twos, someone walked by us and Miss Bennett said "Good Morning". The kids asked her if she knew that person and she said no. She then explained that unlike the city, when you are out in the country people are friendly to each other and greet each other because there are less people. The next 20 people that passed us, whether they were runner, bikers or people walking their dogs, they were greeted by 20 kids screaming "Good Morning". They weren't even doing it sarcastically, they were actually excited to get the opportunity to greet people. The best part was as we were walking on a ridge we looked down and saw old men playing lawn bowling or something like that. Miss Bennett stopped them to explain what they were doing and afterward the kids seriously started screaming, "GOOD MORNING" because they were a ways away.

This was our tour guide who was the minister in the 1850's.

Another activity that the kids participated in was they all got a bookmark with a persons name on it that lived in Saltaire in the 1800's. It said their job and house number and who they were married to and how many kids they had. The kids got to see where they would have lived and how they would have lived. Our tour guides were really good and had a lot of fun playing their character with the kids. It was fun to see them squirm about who they were married to. I didn't see my husband all day because he was hiding from me. I also had 3 of my 8 kids with me that day. Overall it was a really fun and interesting day. The only downside was that it was freezing cold and we were out in it for most of the day.

Karen Bennett

Leigh

Me being a big kid!