Rich Trudel, left, and Dan Ponder, seated, of the re-enactment group Quoketaug Rangers, watch as East Lyme Middle School fifth-grader Sophie Taylor, 10, hurls an ax at a target Tuesday as she and classmates learn about Colonial life during the 12th annual fifth-grade Hands-On Program at the East Lyme Historical Society's Thomas Lee House in Niantic. Students learned about skills necessary for survival in the 17th century and churned butter, cared for cattle and oxen, learned about Colonial cooking and watched a Colonial firearms demonstration.