Grade Four Web Gems Lesson Plans

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Ross Farm Museum Trip

 

An Overview of the Ross Farm Museum Field Trip and Introduction to the Early Settlement Project

 

Objective:

To give the students some time for reflection on their experience at the museum and examine what they have learned from the field trip.

 

Length of Lesson: 1 Hour

 

GCO:              

            Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the past                and how it affects the present and the future.

 

SCOs:

            Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and vocabulary associated          with time, continuity and change

 

Cross Curricular Links: Language Arts

 

Materials:

 

 

Procedure:

 

Evaluation:

The teacher will take in the reflections and evaluations and respond to them taking note of the level of effort put into the assignments and the teacher will also keep a record of things brought up in the discussion and measure student participation.

This map will show you how to get to Ross Farm Museum

 

 At Ross Farm Museum you can ride in a horse drawn wagon, see, taste and smell good food being prepared in Rose Bank Cottage, watch the cooper making barrels, see various types of farm animals and much much more.
Once the home of five generations of the Ross family, the farm was first cleared from the forest in 1816. The museum shows how the early settlers and their descendants lived and coped with the land around them.

 

Aerial View of Ross Farm Museum

The Pedlar's Shop
Products made as demonstrations in the shops as part of the Museum's programs are often available in the museum's gift store, along with community made items & souvenirs.

Visitor Centre
Here you can find out what special activities are going on at the farm. We may be churning butter, shoeing an ox, baking rhubarb pies in the farm kitchen's brick oven or demonstrating other rural skills to help make your visit an educational and exciting one. A picnic area outside is a great spot for a family picnic. There is also limited picnic space inside this building.

Schoolhouse (1907)
Generations of families in the New Ross area were educated in this one-roomed school. It was moved from the community to this site. This is a school house from the early 1900's. Visitors can write on old slate boards and get a feeling of going to school in a small rural community. It is very different than the mega schools of today..

Ross Barn 1893
This is believed to be the second barn on the property, and houses our heritage animals. Our oxen reside here, along with Berkshire pigs, Canadian Horses and, of course, the family milk cow. At 4:30PM every day, visitors can try their hand at milking a cow. The upper level of the Barn houses one of Canada's most impressive plough displays.

Farm Workshop (1870)
The Farm Workshop was where repairs to the farm impliments & equipment were done and wooden items such as stools, axe handles, butter churns, and spoons were made. Today, the workshop is much the same. Visitors can watch the work and can help with some of it depending on the demonstration of the day.

Rose Bank Cottage (1817)
Rose Bank Cottage, the original home of the Ross family, is always bustling with activity. While visiting you can taste homemade cooking fresh from an open hearth, or try your hand at whatever demonstration is taking place such as wool spinning, candle making or butter churning. It is hard to resist tasting the offerings when the cottage is full of aromatic smells.

Stave Mill
Here the specially shaped pieces of wood for making barrels and shingles are made from spruce and fir cut from the neighboring wood lots.

Larder Barn (1905)
Larder Barn displays many of the more than 3,000 artifacts in the Ross Farm Museum collection including an impressive collection of land transportation vehicles. A fully equipped Pedlar's Wagon is one of the prize exhibits. Demonstrations of farm workmanship often take place in this barn.

Blacksmith Shop (1910)
An important member of the rural community, the blacksmith forges horse and ox shoes and many other metal parts and objects.

Cooper Shop
Chat with the cooper and find out how apple barrels and tubs are made, and the importance this industry had on small rural communities.

 

The History of Ross Farm Museum

 

At Ross Farm you will learn about what life was like on a Nova Scotian farm between 100 and 175 years ago, Ross Farm is typical of the many small farms that existed throughout Nova Scotia when the province was still being settled.

In 1816, William Ross was asked by the Earl of Dalhousie, the Governor of Nova Scotia, to take 172 disbanded soldiers and their families to establish a settlement called Sherbrooke (now New Ross). All of these disbanded soldiers were given grants of land.

Ross Farm Museum is located on 60 acres of the original 800 acre grant given to Captain Ross. Five generations of the Ross family have lived and worked on Ross Farm between 1816 and 1970, when the New Ross District Museum Society purchased the property. Even today many of the people who work at Ross Farm are descendants of early settlers in the area.

The goal of Ross Farm Museum is to give our visitors an understanding of the importance of the land in our past and a sense of pride in Nova Scotia rural heritage.