Also reviewing Cold Spring businesses
By Michael Turton
Haldane’s first-graders are on a multimedia mission: to conduct a detailed study that will produce a map of Main Street and reviews of several village businesses in Cold Spring or Nelsonville.
Teachers Lauren Hocker and Jennifer Quick are guiding their classes through the month-long exercise in “project-based learning” that they hope will develop the students’ interviewing and video production skills.
“They’ll also learn ‘soft skills’ such as collaboration and perseverance,” Hocker said. “The students are answering the question, ‘What makes Cold Spring an amazing place to visit?’ ”
On May 20, Hocker’s students visited the Foundry Cafe and peppered owner and chef Jeff Consaga with questions they had prepared, ranging from “How did you get the idea for this restaurant?” and “What is the best thing on the menu?” to “Where does the cafe name come from?” and “Why should people come to the Foundry?”
Hocker’s class also voted to review the Cold Spring Cheese Shop, The Country Goose, Split Rock Books and Hudson River Expeditions. Quick’s class will review Hudson Hil’s, Homestyle Bakery and Creamery, Cold Spring Pizza, Blue Olive and Whistling Willie’s.
Students will work in teams to write their reviews and record them, using photography taken during each visit. The videos will be linked to a QR code that will be displayed at each of the 10 businesses, so that a passerby can photograph the code with his or her phone to view the video.
The QR code will also be placed on the map, which the two classes will produce collaboratively after exploring Main Street on foot. It will be displayed at the Chamber of Commerce information booth at the foot of Main and at Nelsonville Village Hall. The project will be presented to parents on June 19.
The view the finished map, click here.
