Five for Frunday~ Wax Museum and Art Show

Hi y'all! It has been ages since we have chatted. Here's what we have been up to!



Our GT/Art night was this past week, and it was wonderful. Our Living Wax Museum had 32 presenters~19 third graders presented and 13 second graders! Incredible!

Most students began researching back in January, although some students began as late as April. They read biographies about a person of interest. They wrote a research paper. They made a timeline. They wrote their speech. And they practiced.

I blogged about this amazing project here and here.



 Here are lots pics of their night.

Michael Jackson

Queen Elizabeth

Walt Disney

Barnum Bones (Dinosaur Hunter)

Amelia Earhart

Susan B. Anthony

Rosa Parks

Marie Curie

Dr. Seuss

Annie Oakley

Franklin D. Roosevelt

George Washington

Thomas Edison

Stan Lee

Leonardo da Vinci

Elvis Presley

 

Albert Einstein

 
BTW~ We have the world's best art teacher ever! Here are some pics of the Art Show=)

I can never tell which grade level created the art in her classroom because she doesn't have them labeled. She truly brings out the best in students. We love her dearly!

Thanks for reading =0
 

Living Wax Museum {Biographies}

Hi y'all!

For the last 2 years, my Gifted and Talented students have done a major project in the Spring semester. It has been so much fun because we began doing a Living Wax Museum.

What is a Living Wax Museum?

Students learn incredible amounts of information about an important person in history. Then they dress up like that person and perform. They strike a pose that that person who have done and wait for someone to push their paper button. The button is on a table next to them. Then the student comes to life and begins talking about themselves as if they were really that person!

I had seen this idea on the internet and it intrigued me. The first year there were 10 GT students in third grade. I opened it up to any student that was willing to do the work. They were required to do extensive research by reading books and online articles. They created a timeline on the person they were studying. They wrote a research paper. They made an iMovie or iTrailer about that person. And then they got to dress up as that person and perform in our Wax Museum. It was so much fun although it was a lot of work. I had 15 students perform and they were amazing. 

 Click on any of these pics to see one of our first blog posts from June 2013 about our first ever Living Wax Museum.

Last year, 1 kindergartener, 3 first graders, and 1 second grader joined us for the Living Wax Museum. It was awesome. Their teachers did such a great job getting them ready. In third grade, we only had 7 students perform last year, but it still was a blast!

This year, we have many more students preparing for the Living Wax Museum. Currently, there are 13 second graders and 11 third graders in GT {and I have 4 more students who are doing the project!} I started working with them in January to help them pick a person they really wanted to know more about. We practiced together with Martin Luther King Jr. Then, they narrowed their choices down to 3 people and began reading and reading and reading. I must say, it is quite remarkable to watch 27 students completely enraptured in reading. We are splitting this group up because it is just too many projects for 1 teacher. This coming week, a second grade teacher will take the second graders and I will continue on with my third graders. She has never done this project before so I am so so so grateful that she is helping out. Of course, I plan to help her as we go. 

Our presentation of the Living Wax Museum will be in late May {after state testing!} I am excited to learn more about  Stan Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, Roald Dahl, George Washington, Annie Oakley, Betsy Ross, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison and so many others.

If you have any advice to share, please do! I would love to hear how other teachers are doing this project or any other projects!

If you would like to know more about doing this wonderful project, you can email me or leave a comment! 

Seriously, it is a blast!

Thanks for reading!

~lisa

 

Living Wax Museum

Hi. I'm still tying to learn how to do all of this blog thing stuff. Tonight I want to share one of the projects I did with my students this year. This class was the bestest class. I've had lots of great classes but this bunch was sweet, caring, funny, smart, etc. Of my 20 students, 12 of them are gifted.

This project was for my gifted students although I opened it up to all of the students and 2 more of them wanted to do it. In Texas, our gifted students have to complete a big project. Since my class was totally awesome, I decided to do a Living Wax Museum/ Living History Museum.

We began preparing back in January when we studied penguins. We did a shared writing of penguins. Then in February, we studied Abraham Lincoln and did a shared writing of him. The students were finally ready to choose their own person to learn about. I checked out biographies from different libraries and let them browse. We went over the expectations of the project (research, a research paper, a timeline, and preparation for the museum) and they began. They did a lot of research.

 In April, I purchased iMovie for our iPads. I learned how to make movies and trailers and taught the kids. They were all on board to add this element to their projects. They learned quickly and in no time, they were teaching me. We removed the timeline so that they would have time to finish everything. They needed to be ready to present May 29. It was tough, but they did a fantastic job. 

Here are some pics of GT night. The students posed behind a table. If the audience wanted to bring them to life, they pressed a button on the table and the person would come to life. After they spoke, they played their movies and trailers. It was so cool. I will be doing this project again and again.

Tony Hawk

Janet Jackson

Babe Ruth

Wilma Rudolph

Helen Keller

Alexander Graham Bell

Jesse James

Jane Goodall

Minnie Mouse talking about Walt Disney

Benjamin Franklin

Roberto Clemente

Cleopatra

Albert Einstein