By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

Having class in the historic schoolhouse next to the Hillsboro Adobe House museum Friday was part lesson and part reward for Vera Isaac’s Hillsboro Elementary School third-grade class.

The class earned the trip to the historic country-school house by accumulating 110 good behavior points throughout by the end of the school year.

Isaac attempted to make the experience more authentic by wearing a hat from her mother’s collection that could have been worn by a teacher in the early 20th century. She also used the “Golden Book of Songs” — a book used during her childhood at a country school — to lead the class in singing “America The Beautiful.”

“Singing was a very important part of life back then,” Isaac said. “It was entertainment and it was part of most social gatherings.”

After singing and reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance” to start the morning, Hillsboro students also competed in a class spelling bee; Kelli Dyck was the winner.

“I tried to follow the routine as much as I could remember,” Isaac said. “I was going back to things in my memories and my parents’ memories.”

Although they were still learning, Isaac’s class asked their teacher if they could stay out at the historic schoolhouse all day.

Isaac even asked her students if they would rather learn in 2011 or 1911. They originally preferred the past school experience until they thought about their response.

“Are we going to get spanked?” one student asked.

Isaac of course said that the traditional experience would not include the use of corporal punishment. However, the third-grade teacher was not sure if her students understood the hardships of schoolchildren during the early 20th century.