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Civics Comes to Life
Downtown tour gives kindergartners taste of community
By KERRY WATSON-GARNER, STAFF WRITER
The kindergartners of Cary Christian School are learning how to be good town citizens at the young age of five.
As part of the local private school's curriculum, all 55 kindergartners recently studied a civics unit, which led them on a field trip to downtown Cary.
On this adventure, the youngsters witnessed many community workers doing everyday jobs. A firefighter, a town engineer and a baker showed the students that it takes many different jobs and people to make a community run.
"This is an exciting part of their studies," said Claire Farnsworth, a kindergarten teacher.
The tour of the community began at the library on South Academy Street, continued down the street through many businesses and ended at Town Hall. The children visited the Cary Train Depot, mailed a letter at the Post Office and received a cookie at the Blue Moon Bakery, Farnsworth said.
Kindergartners also wandered through Ashworth Drugs and received a kind "hello" from the men at Gurkan's Downtown Auto Repairs on the corner. Anna Huber, another kindergarten teacher at Cary Christian, said the merchants of downtown Cary always make the annual field trip fun for the kids.
"We appreciate the merchants," Huber said. "Even when they are busy, they always take time out to give the kids a wave."
During their visit to Town Hall, the students received special attention from several Town of Cary employees, and even got to take turns sitting in Town Council members' chairs.
"That emphasizes the leaders of the town to the kids," Farnsworth said. This trip helps the teachers wind up their three-week lesson about community workers and their roles with the town.
"It's just wonderful. We want the students to be mindful that they are members of a community and to be good community members one day," Farnsworth said.
Another treat for the adults is watching the students meet the people who do the community jobs they have been learning about in class.
"You see their personalities come out every time they meet a different person," Farnsworth said. "One of them will love the baker and one of them will love the mailman and then one of them will love the firefighter."
The experience demonstrates how well a school lesson can relate to the real world, teachers said, as career ideas start to form.
"We just introduce them," Farnsworth said. "This is the foundation that you build upon. There are many building blocks that make up a whole history."
This article originally appeared in Cary News.