HOOKSETT — For two hours Thursday, a group of students from the Strong Foundations Charter School in Pembroke entered a world with no electronics, where the teacher was respectfully referred to as "ma'am" and where any misbehaving was met with swift discipline.

The Head School in Hooksett is a fully operational one-room schoolhouse in the northern part of town. Local elementary school students have an opportunity to visit and take a class by one of the school's four schoolmarms, all former teachers in the Hooksett school district.

And once the students enter the school, 2012 is an afterthought. The school's front door is an immediate portal to 1840, where Susan Bennett becomes schoolmarm Miss Goldie Emerson and the students all take on a name and background of an actual student who once attended Head School.

The names go back over generations of famous Hooksett families. There's a Robie, an early descendent of the family that still operates Robie's Country Store and there are a few Burbankses, whose family operated a ketchup factory along the Merrimack River.

The lesson began with reading and arithmetic. The boys and girls were separated and took turns reading passages from stories true to the time period that Bennett said carried an important message.

“Good things happen to good boys and girls and bad things happen to bad boys and girls,” Bennett said, portraying Goldie Emerson.

After reading and arithmetic, the students learned some history of the time period. A picture of eighth president Martin Van Buren was displayed and the students counted all 26 stars on the flag hanging on the wall. They even recited a poem about New Hampshire's spot as the ninth state in the union.

The lesson ended with penmanship as students tried their hand at writing with fountain pens dipped in ink. Though the lesson was met with varying success, the students were delighted to make the attempt at writing their 1840s names in the 1840s style.

Bennett said that as the schoolhouse was in the renovation process, the group of four who would become the schoolmarms did extensive research on how the school day was run in 1840 and researched the characters they and the students play.

She said it took about eight or nine months of research before students could come to the school for a lesson.

“I liked doing research at the library and going through all the old records,” Bennett said.

As the students returned back to 2012, back to a world of technology and where discipline is not the No. 1 priority of schooling, Bennett reminded the students of the wise words of President Van Buren that perfectly summed up the time period.

“It's better to do something right the first time than to explain why you didn't,” she said.

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Cory Francer may be reached at cfrancer@newstote.com.