About our Project
This year, our school, which houses Kindergarten through 6th grade, is in a temporary location while our new school is being built. Our former building saw the coming and going of 100 years worth of students, teachers & staff, and now, sadly, it has become part of West Philadelphia’s history books. The building, which stood at 5801 Media Street will be demolished this year to make way for a new building.
To honor the memory of the many students, teachers, staff and community members who made up the Bluford family over the years, we have decided to research and reflect on the last 100 years of life in our small, West Philadelphia community. We have decided to name the project “If These Bricks Could Talk,” since the walls of our former building experienced everything from dirt roads changing into pavement to the introduction of electricity into homes.
Guion S. Bluford Elementary is not actually the original name of our school, which started as William B. Hanna Elementary School, but was renamed after its famous attendee, Guion Bluford, the first African American astronaut to travel in space.
Guion Bluford visited our school last year. You can see pictures of his visit on our website and you can hear a podcast of student reflections here.
There is a group of a dozen students working together to research what childhood was like for Bluford Elementary students when the school first opened its doors in 1908 and compare it to childhood in 2009. They will be looking at fashion, toys, games, sports, food, and the every day lives of children at the turn of the century.
This project will serve as a living memory of what the walls of William B. Hanna/Guion S. Bluford Elementary have seen & heard over a century of housing a community of learners.
Students will be keeping journals and guest blogging here about their thoughts on their neighborhood, their community and what they have learned about life in the early 1900′s.
They will be guided in their research by Mary Beth Hertz, the school’s computer teacher, and Linda Pitt, the school counselor.
Check back soon for more updates!
I love your project and it reminded me of a study I wrote when I first started teaching. I wrote a socioeconomic study of the community where I taught. I would love to help in any way that I can.
See: Decades page on my site
http://cybraryman.com/decades.html
See: Population page on using the census tracts for your school area:
http://cybraryman.com/population.html
I put out the word in the community and I will never forget one elderly woman coming to our school and lending me her worn copy of the history of the neighborhood.
i love this project its very fun for me because I learn more about our old school that recently got knocked down. Also we learned about stuff during the year it was built like we’re doing separate projects in groups. It’s me and my friend Jeromaine and Delvon. We’re seeing how the clothing was like during the time Bluford was being built I’m am so excited about this project.
This sounds like a great project. If some of the older students are still alive, why don’t you not ask them what the school was like back when they were in it?
Dear Bluford Elementary,
I have read your blog and I find it very similar to my school. This year our school is planning to build a new school for kindergarteners through junior high. Our school has been in the original building since the school was created, so the building is over 100 years old! I hope you have great success with building your new school. I am sorry that the old one is being destroyed.
~Erin
Bluford Elementary has a very interesting history. It seems to be a very important part of your community, and I am sorry it has to be torn down. I really enjoyed reading this article; I hope can read some of the blogs that my class will be posting on http://ccassinelli.edublogs.org/. They address the problem of climate change, I hope you will read some of them.
thanks for visiting our site please stay posted 4 more info
thank you for that great idea ,please stay posted for more info
thank you
This projects sounds very interesting. I would like to do it.
Hi everyone.
It is great to see that you are making progress on the Bluford History Project. I stay in touch with Ms Pitt and she suggested that I check out your blog. I think I would have liked being a part of this project. What interesting things you must be learning about Bluford! I hope to come visit some time soon. You can reach me through the Green Woods Charter School web site. Nice being on the web, isn’t it?
Keep up with the good work.
Barbara Mail, former art teacher at Bluford
I am happy that you are so excited about this project. I love to blog too! I am sorry that your old school is being torn down!