The Students Have Returned to Belden
By Linda Niessner,  Committee Chair

     It is with much enthusiasm and excitement that the Belden School Preservation Committee (BSPC) reports that students have returned to Belden School! The first group of students to come to Belden for instruction since 1943 included two first graders and eight fifth graders. The group, from Lincoln Elementary School, traveled from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, to spend Saturday morning learning about a one-room schoolhouse experience of 1936. Schoolmarm, Pat Harte-Naus, conducted reading lessons, arithmetic sessions, elocution activities, and a spelling bee.

Students enjoyed recess down by the creek and were fortunate enough to find artifacts in the water – pieces of an old crock which could possibly have been used years ago at Belden.

The next group to attend a learning session at Belden School was a local group. Scales Mound Elementary School fifth grade students, accompanied by their teachers Vicky Ehrler and Angie Winter, visited Belden and were able to spend time experiencing and enjoying Belden’s past and present. BSPC docents assisted the students as they noted the at-tributes of Belden as compared to their school and then noted the similarities. Math and spelling were part of the curriculum during their visit. Recess by the creek was again a big draw for the students.