Workers renovating a high school in Oklahoma City were stunned to find chalkboards from the early 1900s behind the walls.
The series of chalkboards, that appear to have been used in 1917, were discovered in three classrooms at Emerson High School.
Counting down until Christmas 1917. Drawings nearly 100 years old found during MAPS construction. pic.twitter.com/2nV7hq8foL
— OKC Public Schools (@OKCPS) June 5, 2015
They feature lessons on math, reading, music, and handwriting.
There are also rules for keeping clean, a drawing of a little girl blowing bubbles, and a history lesson about the Pilgrims.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and then I got goosebumps and then I had tears in my eyes,” Principal Sherry Kishore told KFOR.
Music lesson from 1917. pic.twitter.com/bVRqU2hmT0
— OKC Public Schools (@OKCPS) June 5, 2015
Written on one of the boards is a pledge that goes: “I give my head, my heart, and my life to my God, and one nation, indivisible, with justice for all.”
“The time that teachers must have spent preparing for their lessons is amazing to me,” Kishore said after seeing the details on the boards.
Her 85-year-old mother, a retired schoolteacher, also shed tears after seeing the boards. “She just stood there and cried,” Kishore told The Oklahoman.
You find a lesson on pilgrims in every classroom. There was #aligned curriculum in #1917. pic.twitter.com/MurjKd8n6i
— OKC Public Schools (@OKCPS) June 5, 2015
“She said it was exactly like her classroom was when she was going to school.”
“It was almost like a spiritual moment because people who had lived and played and worked in here… a part of them is preserved,” Kishore said. “It’s like you’re going back in time.”
(OKCPS Emerson)
(Courtesy of OKCPS Emerson)
(Courtesy of OKCPS Emerson)
(Courtesy of OKCPS Emerson)
