‘A lot of kids were frightened. . . . Their imagination goes wild on them.’ : Students Catch a Glimpse of a Bygone California Era in San Fernando Mission

The fourth-graders visiting the San Fernando Mission had been studying California history this year, learning about Father Junipero Serra, how Indians ground corn and the process by which grapes become wine.

But they were not prepared for the eerie wine cellar in the 18th-Century mission.

“A lot of kids were frightened by it,” said mission spokeswoman Nancy Hennelly. “Their imagination goes wild on them.”

“They saw things in the dark and thought there were ghosts,” said fourth-grade teacher Gloria Carrillo, who guided more than 100 students from Sheridan Street School in East Los Angeles through the mission Thursday. “But I told them it’s very old, and that’s what makes it dark and musty.”

After braving the cellar, her students headed outside onto the park-like grounds, skipping along the flagstoned arcade, playing among the mission’s ancient bells, and holding giggly lunches in its arched doorways, huddling out of the rain.

Later, many of them headed for the large stone fountain, tossable coins in hand.

Wishes and Souvenirs

The pennies that didn’t get used for wishes were disposed of in the mission’s gift shop.

The children chose picture postcards, Indian tomahawks, hand-beaded belts and necklaces decorated with Indian dolls, Hennelly said. A couple of Carrillo’s students bought gifts for their teacher.

“They all seem to have a lot of money to buy souvenirs,” said Marilyn Wells, a fourth-grade teacher whose 68 students at Wells School in Tehachapi rode 2 1/2 hours by bus to get there.

California history is required for fourth-graders throughout the state, so many schools in Southern California plan yearly field trips to the mission, Hennelly said. Every day about 180 students, mostly fourth-graders, pass beneath the Spanish-style archways off San Fernando Road, she said.

As they toured the mission buildings last week, some students were drawn to the rustic furniture in the mission’s various rooms. However, they quickly determined “that they wouldn’t want to sleep on the hard beds and the chairs must be real uncomfortable,” Wells said.

They also did not like the idea of having to eat corn every day, she said.

Students from Sheridan Street School particularly liked the library, with its dusty old volumes, and were fascinated by Indian lore and artifacts. Carrillo said her students also wanted to know all about the holes that mission cats use while chasing the buildings’ many mice.

Upon returning to their classrooms, students are often asked to write about the mission or create models of it.

Constructing Replicas

On the afternoon following their field trip, Wells students began constructing two-foot mission replicas. Some used sugar cubes or balsa wood for building materials, with lasagna noodles representing red tile roofs.

These yearly trips are often the highlight of social-studies class for fourth-graders from rural Tehachapi, Wells said.

“We usually try to take a trip like this because these kids don’t get into Los Angeles that often, so it’s a cultural experience,” she said. “They notice everything on the way over. They’re always amazed at all the traffic and all the buildings.”

After their activity at the mission, Wells said, she had hoped her students would grow sleepy on the bus trip home so she could rest.

But, she lamented, “They never do.”