Pioneer School
Due to COVID-19 precautions the 2020 Pioneer School will not be held. We are looking forward to offering this fun experience again next summer!
This difficult decision was made based on CDC recommendations and the unknown timeframe for safely being able to offer group activities, especially for children. Our partners at Winona State University's College of Education also suspended in-person classes for the summer semester, not allowing student teachers to participate this year as well. We are looking forward to planning Pioneer School for 2021.
Pioneer School is for 1st-8th graders at the Gainey-McCarthy Schoolhouse at our Rural Heritage Museum in St. Charles, Minnesota. Students explore life as a rural pioneer student with class lessons, games, crafts, and more. Pioneer School is taught by a licensed teacher in partnership with the Winona State University College of Education, with future teachers offering special lessons and activities. WSU was founded as the Winona Normal School, the first west of the Mississippi, opening in 1858. Teachers were trained there and were sent to the surrounding area schools in our rural region to teach the children of Winona County's early farmers. This partnership is a wonderful learning experience for future teachers, current students, and keeps WSU's heritage alive, as well as, the historic skills and ingenuity of rural life in Winona County.
This difficult decision was made based on CDC recommendations and the unknown timeframe for safely being able to offer group activities, especially for children. Our partners at Winona State University's College of Education also suspended in-person classes for the summer semester, not allowing student teachers to participate this year as well. We are looking forward to planning Pioneer School for 2021.
Pioneer School is for 1st-8th graders at the Gainey-McCarthy Schoolhouse at our Rural Heritage Museum in St. Charles, Minnesota. Students explore life as a rural pioneer student with class lessons, games, crafts, and more. Pioneer School is taught by a licensed teacher in partnership with the Winona State University College of Education, with future teachers offering special lessons and activities. WSU was founded as the Winona Normal School, the first west of the Mississippi, opening in 1858. Teachers were trained there and were sent to the surrounding area schools in our rural region to teach the children of Winona County's early farmers. This partnership is a wonderful learning experience for future teachers, current students, and keeps WSU's heritage alive, as well as, the historic skills and ingenuity of rural life in Winona County.
