Ms. Gail Beyrer’s and Ms. Heidi Kreit’s third-grade student classes at Rhame Avenue traded keyboards for quill pens during a visit from a member at the Long Island Museum.

Jessica Pastore, museum educator, took students back to the 19th century through visual and hands-on learning experiences. Students analyzed photographs of a 19th-century schoolhouse setting and compared it to what is current today.

With that, third-graders tried their hand at 19th-century writing techniques by jotting down arithmetic problems on a slate board with chalk. After that, students rolled up their sleeves and wrote in cursive using ink and quill pens, while attempting not to smudge.