"Victorian Day" at School

Dictated by Merrit:

"Today the kids in my school dressed up like Victorians. I didn't dress up because I was a bit nervous because I don't like to be dressed up. Some of the kids in my class dressed up as Victorian kids. The girls were wearing skirts and white hats and the boys were wearing boots and caps and waist jackets. Some kids dressed up to look like they were really rich, and some kids were dressed up to be poor. They had dirty faces and dirty clothes.

"The teachers were really strict. We had put our hands on the desk when the teacher said, 'Put your hands in front of you!' The teachers said to some of the girls who had paint on their nails to never come to school again like that again. They said to some of the boys, 'Clean your faces at playtime!' or 'Go wash your hands right now!' And then we had to write like a Victorian child, by connecting up what we wrote, like cursive. I had to try my best. Chris wasn't working fast enough so he had to get caned. Chris and the teacher went outside the classroom, and I heard Chris say 'Aggh!' and then I heard him say it again, and before he said that I heard a big WHACK! Caning is when they take a stick and they whack your hand. It was just an act.

"Some of the kids had to wear a hat that said you did a bad job at writing. It was like a cone and when you turned it around on the back of it was a 'D' and you had to face the corner. It was white. Eddie and Hammish had to wear the hat and sit in the corner.

"We walked down to the beach and they took a video of us walking by. Then we played some games. We took a hoop and we rolled it back and forth to each other.

(source)

"We went back up to the school and we had our Victorian snack: Bread and jam with water and that was it.

"Then we played outside for a while because it was last playtime. Then we went home.

"At the end of the day, Mrs. Palmer said, 'I'm so glad that I get to be a nice teacher again tomorrow. I'm so glad to smile again. I wanted to smile so much today but I wasn't allowed to smile!'

"I thought Victorian day was cool because it was real. School used to be like that when kids were living in Victorian times. A couple of weeks ago, we took a field trip to Tynemouth and we looked at some Victorian statues and houses. I have learned that the punishments in Victorian times were very, very, very serious. And that it was very rude to speak in class. And that the rules were very serious."