The kids are curious.

That’s the consensus among the juniors from Albert Lea High School in Jim Haney’s humanities class. They were teaching fifth-graders a bit about life at the turn of the 20th century during Discover History Days Tuesday at the Freeborn County Museum.

“I like their questions,” junior Claire Buendorf said.

Her partner was Chelsea Petersen, and they were teaching the kids about how school was different than it is today. Both girls said they liked that the students learned from them and were able to respond to questions after the presentation. Petersen and Buendorf prepared for about a month and even played games with the children, like one involving a stick and a metal hoop.

“It’s fun to see how excited they get with older games,” Petersen said.

Both girls had hoped to teach in the schoolhouse after touring the museum. They taught the area fifth-graders what a typical day in a schoolhouse used to look like, and how people could become teachers. The fifth-graders got a chance to use quill pens and ink, and Buendorf said a few said they were thankful for pencils after trying to use the quill pens.

One fifth-grader, Bre’Lahna Purdie, from Hawthorne Elementary School, said she enjoyed visiting the post office where they got to write letters to their moms. She also got a chance to grind corn, which was part of a presentation on agriculture and feeding livestock.

Another group of juniors, Nick Santee, Matt Buhr and Matt Attig, got a chance to show the fifth-graders what church worship was like in the olden days.

“We showed them how a typical service would go,” Santee said.

Attig said symbolism was an important part of the services in the 1800s, and close attention was paid to certain practices, like having men and women sit on different sides of the church. Santee said the students were curious right away about why they were seated that way.

“They ask a lot of questions,” Attig said.

The boys said the younger students were curious about how children were disciplined during church service, and how they prepared at home for church by bathing on Saturday nights, often using the same water as the rest of their family.

Pat Mulso, executive director of the museum, said the fifth-graders were enjoying themselves and behaving on Tuesday. This year Discover History Days only spans two days — Tuesday and today — and Mulso said it was hectic to accommodate the same number of fifth-graders.

“The kids seem to be having a good time,” Mulso said.

Students shopped in the museum during their lunch hour, and Mulso said they sell a lot of arrowheads and rock candy. The fifth-graders also heard from Freeborn County’s Solid Waste Officer Randy Tuchtenhagen about how recycling has changed over the years. Mulso said the children like to hear about how adults recycled when they were children, and how things have progressed.

“It helps them relate,” Mulso said.