Local Archeologist Gary Nolf Visits Jeffrey and Ryerson
Recently, the Jeffrey and Ryerson Elementary school communities were excited to host local amateur archeologist Gary Nolf to work with third graders on their first unit, Our Changing Land. Nolf develops programming in conjunction with the Hammonasset Nature Center as well as the Office of State Archeology at the University of Connecticut. He brought unique artifacts, many of which were thousands of years old, for the students to see and sometimes handle. A highlight included the atlatl demonstration in which students could try their hand at hitting a cardboard mastodon using the prehistoric technology. Our Changing Land is a unique interdisciplinary unit that combines studies of geology and glaciers from science along with mapping skills and human interaction with the land from Social Studies. Students investigate many community and regional locales to accomplish these learning goals.