We caught up with students at Ries Elementary participating in Pioneer Trails Day.

♪♪ (Deanna Garcia) We have a two-week pioneer unit that we do every year, and we study everything from the westward expansion, Lewis and Clark, Oregon Trail, gold rush, the Pony Express, the invention of the telegraph, the Transcontinental Railroad.

So they learn all of that, and we do that every year.

And usually there's a culminating activity at the end that the teachers have to do.

This year, we had a new opportunity, and we could take all the things that we learned in the classroom and bring it to life and actually experience the "day in the life" of a pioneer on the trail.

(Vivienne Schwab)So a pioneer is someone who, like, settled in new land like, for example, the people who took the Oregon Trail in the 1840s to get new land.

(Scout Tatum) It's good to learn about them.

So to see what they were doing in their life, we can appreciate what is happening in our lives.

-It's important to remember a simpler time, a time of opportunity, when people had to start with nothing and build up.

And I think it's rewarding for the kids to get their hands dirty and remember what it was like when we were building this country.

(Linda Bruesch) The inspiration behind the business is really my husband.

My husband is a big history enthusiast, I guess.

And, you know, both of us just having some discussions and wanting to bring something that was so unique that had never been seen or done before.

-Wash your laundry is my favorite thing to do, but it was kind of hard.

-So we have various items that represent things that would be indicative of that time.

So some of the stations that the kids are going to experience, they're going to load and pull a pioneer handcart.

One of the other stations that we have is the branding station.

That station simulates branding of cattle on the Pioneer Trail.

One of the other stations is butter.

So they learn to make and churn butter by using a jar with marbles in it and heavy whipping cream.

And then at the end of the day, usually there's enough butter for the kids to sample.

The other station that we have is the mountain man button.

So they use a hand crank drill to drill a couple holes and make an actual mountain man button that would be similar to what the mountain men made and used for buttons on their jackets and their shirts.

-I couldn't ask for a more perfect activity.

Everything that we've read, everything that we've learned, everything that we've talked about, it's coming to life right here.

So there's no better way to support the learning that happened in the classroom than this Pioneer Trails Day.

-What a cool experience.

And you can learn more about the Pioneer Trails Mobile Museum by contacting Linda at the email address right here on your screen.

Well, as promised--I'm so excited--I have the yearbook photos that I promised you earlier on in the show.

And what a trip down memory lane.

That's me right there.

I attended 3rd through 5th grade.

And check out my wonderful siblings, part of the Silva seven, my brothers, Manny and Bobby, and my sisters, Veronica and Cruz.

Such special memories here at John S. Park Elementary School.

Special thanks to all of our kind and caring teachers back then and now.