Abby Hart plays with a 19th-century toy during Lincoln Days at Fairfield's North Stratfield School.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Mason McCay practices a ball-in-cup game during Lincoln Days at Fairfield's North Stratfield School.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Patricia Kassay teaches her students about Abraham Lincoln's life at North Stratfield School in Fairfield.

Photo Credit: Contributed

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A group of fourth-graders at Fairfield’s North Stratfield School are traveling back in time. For the next two weeks, students in Patricia Kassay’s class will head back to the 19th century to learn about the life of our 16th president.

The program, dubbed “Lincoln Days,” is framed around Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, which will be celebrated Monday. Before their music and physical education classes, the kids will get a brief history lesson on the life of Lincoln.

They’ll then play some of the games he would have played as a child: peg yop, whirligig, rolling hoop, quoits, pick-up sticks and Jacob’s ladder. They’ll also learn how to play the pennywhistle, a 19th-century instrument.

Kassay got the idea after attending a summer educational session through the Horace Mann/Abraham Lincoln Fellowship. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to relive that experience,” she said.

The materials for the two-week program came through a grant by the Fairfield Foundation for Education. Each year the nonprofit group uses private donations to help fund teacher’s ideas that go above and beyond the normal curriculum. For more information, visit the group’s website.