Castle Rock Hosts Mission Madness

The following news release is courtesy of the Walnut Valley Unified School District.

Castle Rock fourth graders experienced a morning filled with cooking, crafts and activities from the Mission period of California on November 26.

Instead of just reading about the early life of the missionaries and Native Americans, they stepped back into time and experienced some of the daily activities including weaving their own fabric with yarn. The children got a chance to make tortillas, fruit leather, dream catchers, candles and adobe bricks.

They also acted out skits and played the toe toss game. The Reader’s Theatre allowed students to act out the interactions between the natives and missionaries during this period. Native America kids also played toe and toss games to develop coordination, balance, and strength.

During Mission Madness, the Castle Rock students played with toe toss sticks just like the Native Americans. They stood behind a mark and balanced a stick on their toe. The object was to toss the stick as high as you could, described teacher Vivian Ramirez.

“It was a great experience for our students who were engaged in their learning,” said the 4th grade teaching team.

Teachers, volunteers and students came together to make it a successful day of fun and learning.

“I enjoyed the experience because we were able to learn the differences between life then and now,” said Kristin Joe.

“Making the adobe bricks was my favorite part because we were able to get our hands dirty and understand the work that went into building the missions,” added Maggie Cheung.

“I liked making the fruit leather because I learned that it was a process of picking the fruit, mashing, spreading, and waiting for it to dry. It is not like going to the market today,” Joseph Lu said.

Parent Cindy Lee was also impressed with the event.

“The projects and centers were hands-on and high quality. I can imagine it took a lot of planning and we are grateful that the 4th grade classes went all out,” she said.