Hearthside cooking cooks-up a colonial days lesson

Fourth grade students from Pieter B. Coeymans Elementary School are learning how to cook without the “modern” tools of microwave ovens or even stoves.

During a series of field trips, the students from four different classes at PBC are taking part in a “Hearthside Cooking Lesson” at Fort Crailo in Rensselaer.

The students are making traditional colonial cookies over wood and coals in a colonial hearth at the historic site.

The students are kicking-off their Colonial Living unit with the excursion, said teacher Melissa Manning.

“It’s all about teaching through actual experiences how life was in the colonial period,” said teacher Linda Boehm.

The field trips begin Tuesday with Mannings’ and continue Wednesday with Sean Powers’ class. They resume on Jan. 22 and 23 with students in Linda Boehms’ and Tricia Reynolds’ classes.