I enjoyed being part of the downtown tour because I got to learn about things I didn't know about Roanoke. I also got to meet new people and experience what its like to in charge of other kids and I also experienced being a teacher. I am looking forward to doing this again because it was really fun and I got to go in places I never knew Roanoke had, I had a good time.

I really enjoyed being a tour leader and teaching the 6th graders about downtown. It is really important to pass down history so that people in future generations don't take things for granted. The most interesting thing to me that we learned in the tour was about all the fallout shelters we have in Roanoke. The 6th graders were actually excited to learn about the history of downtown Roanoke.

DownTown Tour.

Being in the tour was very fun. I enjoyed the time I had helping the kids learn about some things that used to be in Roanoke. It was fun because Some of the things I did not know I got to learn. It was easy because the kids that I had was very nice they was understanding they knew alot of the things which was easy on me because i was able to teach them things to add on and i enjoyed it.

Being a tour leader of downtown Roanoke was an experience I enjoyed. It was an opportunity for me to be a leader, answer questions, and give new information and fun facts to children who were willing to learn about the place we call "home". Being a "passer down" of history caused me to learn in the process of teaching others. Telling of the past allows us to share an understanding of what came before us- the marvels and struggles- and how the town came to be. This experience honestly deepened my appreciation for the still beautiful structures of downtown Roanoke and the stories of their prime. The information can also spark an inspiration as I had one girl in my group tell me "We could bring all this back" (meaning the old companies, stores, etc. on Main Street). Having someone to teach future generations of our past can  honor the people and efforts of the past; it can also give pride to the future generations for knowing the past, passing it along, and analyzing it to improve the future as well as preserve. The most interesting thing I learned while preparing was discovering the still-remaining lobby floor of the Bonner hotel!

Downtown Tour

I enjoyed my experience as a group leader, and teaching younger students about our town's past. It is very important to teach our future generations about the past, because if you don't teach then it gets forgotten and seems like it never happened. By far the most interesting thing I learned about, while preparing for the tour was that there once were 85 businesses in downtown Roanoke. This is interesting to me because our population has increased since then and we can barely keep those businesses running. All  in all I think this class in a great, learning experience for anyone taking the class.

Downtown Tour

      I really enjoyed the downtown tour this week. I loved learning about the history of our town and it made it even more enjoyable to be able to share it with the sixth grade. Learning the history of Roanoke is so much more exciting when you have a great group like I had.  I learned so much about how our "little town" was at one time not so little. The most interesting thing I learned is about how Roanoke used to be a very popular city that was home to three theatres. Teaching the kids about downtown Roanoke was an amazing experience and I hope community studies continues this tradition for the years to come. I think it is important to keep the history of Roanoke alive, considering that most people do not know the history themselves. Community Studies is doing the future generations a favor, by passing down historic information. 

Downtown Tour

My experience as a tour leader was fun. Being able to help these 6th graders learn more about Roanoke also helped me too. I learned how Roanoke was a big city around here compared to what it is now. The significance of having someone to teach future generations about our past should mean a lot to everyone. As a parent you would won't your to succeed in life. By doing this, we need to have someone to teach things so it would take us far in life. The most interesting thing I learned was that we had a Belk in Roanoke. People living in Roanoke in this day time go shopping at all the other big cities. Back then, you was able to shop somewhere just around the corner. These are the reasons why I enjoyed teaching these 6th graders more about Roanoke.

 Being the person who gets to pass down the history of such a great place is so amazing and exciting. Preparation played a huge part in telling the history of our great town. We teach these things so that they can be passed down to generations to come. History is made everyday and the past needs to be preserved. You see I'm not from Roanoke, so learning about how booming Roanoke was back in time is amazing to visualize. The most interesting thing about what I learned was that Roanoke had 85 business at once. It's hard to believe looking at how small Main Street looks today.

Downtown Tour!

My experience as a tour leader was fantastic. I really enjoyed teaching the kids about the history of Roanoke. I just love how the kids were interested with the history and how they already knew some of the facts we was telling them. I think it was very important to teach the six graders about the history of Roanoke because they should know what the town of Roanoke use to be like and how it was operated back in the day. Now that I did all that I could to teach them about our history, I hope they can later on in life take that information and tell someone that don't know the history of our hometown. Some may think that Roanoke is a little town with no history but once they learn what I have learned these past few days they would be surprised like I was when I was learning about our history. While preparing for this tour the most interesting thing that I learned was about the bus station that Roanoke once had. As long as I have been living here I never knew that Roanoke had a bus station. One more interesting thing that I learned is that Roanoke had three theaters, I only knew about one of them and that is because of the big theater sign that lights up at night on Main Street.  

     I enjoyed being the group leader for Maya, Cheyenne, Ella, and Ansley. They were a great group the teach about the history of Roanoke. I enjoyed this project because I got to work with others and I get to help them learn about new things. I felt important being a "passer down" of history because they might not have every learned about Roanoke if it wasn't for this project. They need to know the history about Roanoke so that they can know where they came from. They got to learn all the things about the buildings and they will always know these so that they can pass down history to their kids. The most interesting thing I learned was in the Phillips Brothers building, where they had Toy Land. This was interesting to me because I know I would have enjoyed this as a kid and I can imagine how all the other kids felt about all the toys. Overall, I had a great time with the sixth graders and it was a great learning experience.

Downtown tour with 6th grade

                               

                               Teaching a younger group of people from the same community as me is so fun and exciting to me. The history of this small town is filled with many things that some people wouldn't even imagine. Learning the history of our town is important because when the later generations come, they'll be curious to know where building came from, what was there and what happened. When I was passing down this information the students seemed so interested and fascinated with what they learned, as I did when I myself learned it.  It was a good feeling to know that we are preserving the past!

Downtown Tour

    I enjoyed being a tour leader and having the opportunity to pass down the history of Roanoke to the 6th graders. When I would tell the history of all the stops we made on Main Street the eyes of the 6th graders in my group would light up with fascination. Just to see them so intrigued by learning things they didn't know about Roanoke made me smile. I loved being able to talk about how Roanoke was once a bustling city. It is important for someone to teach future generations about our past because once you teach them, they will be able to teach the next generation. Learning all the things about Roanoke will save the history and keep people more interested in our community. Even though our town isn't what is use to be, teaching and preserving its history will make younger generations want to serve their community to keep the history alive. The most interesting thing I learned while preparing for the downtown tour is that there use to be a place where men gambled on games of pool. Also I learned that whenever they would play pool women and children couldn't look toward where they gambled when they walked or drove by because it was frowned upon. The kids in my group thought that the Elephant Station which was once the shape of an iceberg was once an actual iceberg and they asked why the ice had not melted yet!

I had a great time as a tour leader. I enjoyed teaching the kids about our community's past and how Roanoke use to be. I think it's important to teach the future generation about our community's past. One reason is that they know how our community came to be and that they will treat our community with respect. I also learned a lot of things about our community. I learned that our community had a bus station, dairy queen, belks, and etc. The most interesting thing I learned about our community is that it had 3 movie theaters. I never knew Roanoke Alabama had 3 movie theaters. The Stars Theater, Liberty Theater, and Martin Theater were the 3 theaters in Roanoke. I had an amazing time learning about my community, and would like to keep learning things about it.

Downtown Tour 2015

As a tour leader, I enjoyed getting to interact with the sixth graders and teach them my knowledge of downtown Roanoke. From preparing to teach them in the classroom and downtown, I learned more about our small town. I've obtained a greater appreciation for the buildings and history of this town. I hope that taking the sixth graders on a tour and passing down my knowledge has given them a greater appreciation of Roanoke as well. Most students thoroughly enjoyed the tour and were engaged in learning the whole time. History is important to pass down through generations, especially history of the place you live. Now that these sixth graders know some history of Roanoke, they can pass it along to their siblings, friends, cousins, and others. History is important to plan for the future; we must know the history and preserve it. With the information learned, the young students hopefully gained a sense of pride for this community. Our town will need leaders from this generation one day, and these students already have a jump start on knowing the history. Roanoke had at least two fallout shelters that we know about; one is in the old leader office and the other in old post office which is now a museum. It was fascinating to see the materials and provisions in the basement of the post office. Someone could've done away with those things years ago, but they kept them for future generations to see. I find it interesting to see how items have changed overtime. Hopefully each student had a great time and will pass down something they now know about the history of downtown Roanoke.

Downtown Tour- Heather Cook

I had a very fun experience working with the 6th graders. As a tour leader I felt like they looked up to me as I told them about the history of our town. I had a great time getting to know them. I had a very active group who loved to ask questions, which made me feel good because it seemed like they actually wanted to be there. They were very respectful and always found a way to make me laugh. I think it is very important to have someone teach our future generations about the history of our town. This is because I've learned how important our town has been in the past and the important things/people that has come through our town. I think it's a fun experience for the younger kids especially, because they would rather be out doing something than sitting in a classroom anyhow. They just found a way to make every stop fun for themselves and for me. One of my favorite stops was the old city cafe. As I was talking about the cafe, and the history of the "Gone With The Wind" character who liked to eat there, one of my students says "That's my momma's shop, I'm gonna be famous!" That was probably the most interesting thing I learned that day.

Downtown Tour Experience

While touring the 6th graders around Roanoke, I had a good time. The experience I had is definitely one to remember. I was amazed at how much the 6th graders were interested in learning about the past of our historical town. The 6th graders I had were respectful, eager to learn, and cooperative. It is important that we teach our younger youth about the history of Roanoke so they will be able to pass it down as they begin to get older. Although we live in a small city, I'm proud to live here because there is so much history about this place that served as a big piece of the past. The most interesting thing I've learned while preparing for this project is how much history Roanoke, Alabama has. For such a small town, there is a ton of history and possibly some yet to be discovered. If I had the opportunity to do this again, I wouldn't hesitate to do so. I'm thankful to have educators such as Mrs. Sears, Coach Glass, and Mrs. Baldwin to have given me the chance to find out more about our town.

   My experience as a tour leader and a "Passer Down" of history was great. I really loved the experience of being able to interact with the kids. While they were actually learning things about our  very on town that they live in! It's very important to have people who are able to teach and really know about their town. So that we can pass down this information to generation to generation, so that it will never be forgotten. The most interesting thing that I learned while preparing for this downtown tour. Was that Roanoke at one point and time actually had three movie theater's. Every since I have been living in Roanoke the only theater I actually knew about was the Martin theater. But thanks to the community studies class I now know that Roanoke had the Martin theater, Liberty theater, and Star theater. Which were all mostly on the same corner. One thing that I would like to add was that I was very impressed with the  group that I had. They all was well behaved and exciting to learn about the history of downtown.

Downtown Tour

The most interesting things that I learned during the Downtown Tour were the fascinating facts that I uncovered while preparing for the tour. I learned about how busy and fast-paced Roanoke was in the past. It was very interesting comparing life in Roanoke today to life in Roanoke in the late 19th and early 20th century. I also enjoyed learning about the different businesses that were located downtown and the families that owned them.
Being a tour leader was a very enjoyable experience, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to teach this great group of sixth graders! I loved seeing their reactions to some of the information, and they were very engaged with the scavenger hunt we assigned them.
I hope that these students were as fascinated by this experience as I was. The history of our town isn't necessarily something you can find in a textbook or even on the internet, and I believe that it is very important to learn and pass down our community's past to the generations of the future. If these students learn as much as they can about our history, then they can use that information to improve our community in the future.

Downtown Tour

    My experience as a tour leader was pretty great for the most part.  My group of students was very interested in learning about Roanoke's past and listened to everything I had to teach them.  It is very significant to have someone to teach future generations about our city's past to make them want to help serve the community.  Our town was once very lively and had many thriving businesses.  We only have one fourth of the businesses now that we had back then.  I feel like if we had more people learning about how successful our town was in the past they would want to help restore it back to the way it once was.  The most interesting thing I learned while preparing for the tour was that Clark Gable, one of the main actors from Gone with the Wind, loved to stop and eat at the City Cafe that we once had in Roanoke.  I think this Downtown Tour is a great way to teach children about our past and make them interested in learning by doing things differently than just listening to teachers in a classroom.

Downtown Tour

  It's very important to for the future generations to know about History. Our teachers told us, we told the 6th graders, and the 6th graders will tell the future generations. I think they enjoyed learning more about Roanoke and will tell others about what they learned. I think the most interesting thing I've learned is how much more we had in Roanoke than what we do now. It was very interesting learning that we had 3 movie theaters, a dealership, a dairy queen, and even a Belk. I enjoyed learning about the history of Roanoke. It's very interesting to  see how things were in the past, so teaching the 6th graders was very fun for me. 

The most interesting thing I learned during this whole experience was the lead man actor from Gone With The Wind used to love coming to Roanoke's City Cafe for lunch so much he'd time his trip just right to make sure he could stop and eat there. During the tour I enjoyed teaching the children about Roanoke's history because one day they might need to know those things. The little boy in my picture below was also one of my favorites to show around. We didn't have the best class, but he was well behaved and ready to learn. The downtown tour is a really good idea and should continue in the years to come, because it gives these kids a new appreciation for our little town. Roanoke may not be a big city or well known but its our town and that's what matters.

Downtown Tour

My experience as a tour leader and a "Passer Down" to history was fun. My group members was very cooperative and was very well respectful. They done everything they was told to do. I really loved the experience of being a teacher and teaching other kids things about history. It's a good feeling knowing all the important and past facts about downtown. I never knew the things that I know now. It's a great feeling knowing you can help your community and tell them about the history of downtown because most adults don't know most of the things that's happen in downtown. There's a lot of history and I think people should look more into their history. The most interesting thing I've learned was about the Masonic building, where there was meetings held there.

Downtown Tour

As a tour leader and a "passer down" of history, it was an exciting experience. It was interesting and exciting because it was exciting to learn about our history of our town, and that we have people that are "famous" in our town. Plus, I found out things that I never knew before, and places that were once there are now gone down and the buildings are falling in or scary looking. Sharing this information to the 6th graders was fun because they did not know about our town and now they can pass down to generations about our town, so it lives on. Also the 6th graders seemed excited to find out that we had so many more things and that their grandparents or great grandparents were apart of this wonderful time in Roanoke. Being able to pass down this information makes sure that people, for instance, from 2033 know the history from the 1900s of our town, and know that we were something other than just a city named Roanoke. The most interesting thing I learned about Roanoke is that we actually use to have stores! We had a Belks, a bus station, and a hotel! Who knew that we had a hotel or that a bus station was in Roanoke and buses use to stop by? I loved getting to share the many things about Roanoke and how it use to be because we can actually say that at one point and time we had stores and other businesses. We also had someone "famous" who lived in Roanoke and made porcelain/Ella Smith dolls.  And yet them dolls are now worth a million dollars and are known all over the world! I loved spending time and getting to know our town and loved being able to teach it to the younger generation, for them to pass on!  

Down Town Tour

     My experience as a tour leader was fun and also challenging. The fun part about it I got to joke around at times and other times I had to be serious. The challenging part about being a leader is you having to remember everything and make sure you don't forget nothing. The significance of having someone to teach others kids and students about the history of Roanoke is after you teach them, they can go and teach other people and it can keep getting passed down. One of the most interesting things I learned preparing for this tour is what I learned about the old leader office, I learned that there was an old dentist office up in the top of the building.

   Being a tour leader was a new experience for me. It was fun being a tour leader because of how we went around and telling the 6th graders about our town history. The significance of teaching a future generation about our past is so that they can learn and fix our community in the future and then when they get older they can pass down what they learned to more future generations to come so that we can keep the history alive and going. One of the most interesting things that I learned was that we used to have a Dairy Queen, 3 movie theaters, and a pool hall. Teaching the 6th graders was interesting because they knew about some of the things we were talking about and they could teach us about some things. I had a great time learning and teaching about our town history.

Downtown Tour 2015

Being a tour leader and 'passer down' of history is a hard job, I won't lie. It's a lot of work and there are so many things you have to remember. But I think it's a very important job so that the younger generations can know their history and have the same knowledge as the ones that came before them. It can teach the kids pride of a place they weren't very proud of before, a place that may look run down and shabby to them. Roanoke is shabby, yes, but there's also a lot to learn about this place.

I guess the most interesting thing I learned while studying this topic was how many disastrous things have happened to Roanoke. A lot of things have burned and fallen to the ground. Somehow, though, it still stands today. That has to mean something in the way of perseverance.

It was a wonderful experience being a tour leader for a day. Sharing the history I know to the 6th graders was very interesting. They were excited to see what was next, especially finding the items on the scavenger hunt. The 6th graders thought we were really important because they listened to me, and they participated in what I asked them to do. Once I told them to get away from the road, they listened right then and never got close to the road again. The most interesting thing I learned about while preparing for this project was the Ella Smith house. I got to go in her house and look around at some of her dolls, and I loved how the pigeon house was still there. Something that popped out to me was that her husband bought her that house as a wedding gift. It was a privilege to be able to teach 6th graders about our downtown Roanoke and it was a great experience for me as well getting to know about our downtown Roanoke.

Downtown Tour

Yesterday, on September 15, I had a group of 6th graders that I had to take on a tour of downtown Roanoke. My experience as a tour leader was quite enjoyable because it felt like I was passing down our local history. It felt like I was making a difference in young peoples lives, and I felt that we had fun while learning also. I think that it is very important that someone teaches the younger generations about our local history, just as Mrs. Baldwin and Mrs. Sears taught me. I think that if we don't teach them about it, then our history could be forgotten, and that would not be good. the most interesting thing that I learned about Roanoke is that downtown used to be where everything was. You could just go to downtown and buy you some shoes, groceries, and watch a movie if you wanted to. I think that this tour helped me grow as a student and as a "leader".