LEROYPENNYSAVER&NEWS - JULY 5, 2015
Elementary
byLynneBelluscio
If youhavekids infirst grade,
you might want to ask them
about Mr. LeRoy’s gardener,
FlorenceMcCarthy– (aliasSam
Leadley.)
This year, for the gardening
activity,Mr.McCarthy talked to
them about “veg-e-tables.” Mr.
McCarthy came from Ireland
and was the gardener for Her-
man LeRoy in New York City
and then came up here to help
Herman’s son, Jacob. As you
probably remember, Jacob had
anarboretumandwasknown for
thehugecauliflowers thatgrew in
the veg-e-table garden. He also
had avery tall brickwall around
hisgarden, and just tomake sure
no one came into his garden, he
put broken glass on the top. He
grew his fruit trees “espaliered”
against thewall,whichmeanshe
trained the branches to lieflat.
Sam - -er Florence - talked to
the kids about planting veg-e-
tables. How many carrot seeds
doyouneed toplant if youwant
five carrots? If youplant one cu-
cumber seed, howmany cucum-
bers could you have?Where do
potatoes grow?When you plant
a tomatoseed ina littlepot inside
where it’s warm, then when it
grows, it becomes a “seedling”
that you plant outside. (One of
the kids even askedwhether the
tomatowas a vegetable.)
So we had some trouble with
theweather,butwefinallyplanted
all themarigolds inMr. LeRoy’s
garden and each student took
home some bean seeds to plant.
The seeds are for yellow pencil
podbeans thatwere developedby
amanfromLeRoy,CalvinKeeney.
If youhavekids infifthgrade,
they might have come home
to tell you that they had a little
soldier food, ofbeef jerkey, hard
tackandcoffee. Theymighthave
also toldyou that theyenlisted in
theUnionArmy for three years.
And on Friday, they placed 100
flags around theCivilWar - - or
as theydiscovered - - theWar of
the Rebellion Monument. Each
flag has a ribbon with the name
of a LeRoy Union soldier. You
probably saw thephotograph the
next dayon the front pageof
the
BataviaDaily
.
There’s a little more to the
story. It seems that when
the rainhit thatafternoon,
it blew down many of
the flags, so when Trey
Prevost came by to show
hismom,hewasdisheart-
ened to see somanyflags
on the ground. His mom
said, “We can fix that.”
So even though it was
still raining, Trey and his
mom set the flags back
up.ThankyouTrey--and
Mom.
If you have kids in
kindergarten, they came
byLeRoyHouse and sat
in the front parlor with
Mrs. Frew andMrs. Furr
and discovered things in
Grandma’s Trunk. Old
things and new things.
Sometimes they had to
put their thinking caps
on, but they discovered
that many things today
are thrown out after they
are used, but in Grand-
ma’s day, things were
washed and used again,
over andover.
If you have kids in second
grade, you might have seen us
walking up Main Street - - on
a very hot day. We found 30
GeorgeWashingtons, and a his-
toric marker on the front of the
Smokin’Eagle. Wealso learned
aboutMillStreet,ChurchStreet,
Bank Street and Lake Street.
And thatWolcottStreet isnamed
for an early pioneer. That Clay
Street is named for a very im-
portantman fromKentuckywho
was a Senator in Washington.
We also found some iron build-
ings that were made in Buffalo
at the Washington Foundry. If
you have second graders, ask
them to show you the George
Washingtonbuilding.
Ifyouhavekids in thirdgrade,
we talked a lot about simple
machines. I have to admit, I
never tookphysics, andalthough
I know that a pulley is a neat
simplemachine, I never did any
experiments with simple ma-
chines. But maybe that’s good
because my understanding of
simple machines is pretty sim-
ple. But it is frustrating to talk
about a see saw only to realize
that playgrounds don’t have see
saws anymore. But I didmakea
“home run” talking about base-
ball bats, because a few of the
kidswereonLittleLeague teams
and knew that if they “choked
up” theyweren’t hitting the long
ball,and if theywere told tobunt,
they were placing the ball right
in front of the catcher. “So now
do you understand a lever and a
fulcrum?”Youbet they did.
Then therewere the kidswho
reallybelieved that theypounded
screws in with a hammer. And
never made the connection be-
tween a nail and a hammer and
a screw and a screwdriver. We
even identified a Phillips-head
screw and screw driver. For one
little girl, I hope she remembers
the difference when she gets
to college and wants to hang a
picture on thewall.
Fourth graders always enjoy
their Pioneer Sampler and we
enjoy sharing all the differ-
ent activities with them. From
washing clothes to playing old
fashioned games, it’s a great
day and for that, I really want
to thank all the volunteers who
make that happen. Joanne Gra-
hamwho has showed kids how
to play skittles and use the “do
nothingmachine” for at least 20
years.SheliaFurrwhosharesher
quilting experience. For the last
couple of years, Anne Frew has
rolledupher sleevesandwashed
clotheswith the kids. This year,
because itwassocold,wehad to
move inside,but thekidsstillhad
to do thework.
Cheryll Fernaays, has for the
last coupleyears, churnedbutter.
She has the patience of Job to
stick with this activity, because
butter seems to have a mind of
itsownandwill only formwhen
it’sgoodandready.And ifyou’re
a fourthgrade parent, youmight
want to track down the papers
the kids brought home. There is
a great recipe for a simple cake
that iswonderfulwith strawber-
ries. 1-2-3-4 cake. Cream a cup
of butterwith two cups of sugar.
Beat in 4 eggs until fluffy. Then
add 3 cups of flour. The batter
willbestiff likepoundcake.Pour
intoagreasedcakepanandbake
at 375 until done. Serve with
freshberriesandwhippedcream.
School’s out. Vacation time.
