“At first I knew nothing about wars, so now I learned the War of 1812
and the Revolutionary War,” said Jonathan, a fifth grader at the school.
Patterson Park will be added to the Star Spangled Banner Trail National
Historic Trail, which stretches 560 miles in DC, Maryland and Virginia and
follows the paths that British and American soldiers traveled during the War of
1812. Research the students conducted about what happened during the war in the
park will be used in markers along the trail.
“I’m extremely impressed,” said Abbi Wicklein-Bayne from theNational Park
Service. “ What the kids have done here and what the teachers have put together
is just amazing. They really embrace the history as their own history and their
community. It was really cool.”
On May 17, 2012, Patterson Park Public Charter Schools hosted a Historic
Field Day that served as the culminating event around the students’ work to
commemorate the War of 1812.
The student exhibits featured handcrafted mukets, uniforms, posters of
their research, a drum and fife performance, and a canoe, a life-sized
reacreation of ones used in the early 19th-century. The project connected math,
reading, science and social studies.
“I’m really good with math and I like math a lot. And I plan on
being an architect when I grow up,” says Alexander from Patterson Park Public
Charter School.
“For them to put that all into one project, to save for the next 100 years,
if not longer, it’s quite phenomenal,” said Mr. Kaiser.
Councilman James B. Kraft, Wicklein-Bayne, and Amy Rosenkrans, in the
Office of Humanities at Baltimore City Public Schools, all came to congratulate
the students.
“I’m proud to know that the city of Baltimore had such a strong army that
really cared about our city to protect it enough,” Kentiera said.
Brianna, a fifth grader, said “I’m very proud of my school, myself,
and my teachers and my classmates.”