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

 

Five for the Week =) And a Sale!!!!

Hi!
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for this past week in pictures!


I have spent the last 2 weeks with a cold and cough. And now, my eldest is sick. Happy times y'all. So, of course, I'm late to the party=)

Did you notice our blog make over? Tina and I are absolutely in love with it!
A big thanks to Gabby's Classrooms for the beautiful design. She is awesome to work with if you need a little make over! Just click on her button if you'd like to visit her blog!

My view of our mountains as I got into my car on Wednesday night. They are so beautiful, but 6:15 is just too late to be heading home!

 Last week, during our myth unit, one of the stories we read was The Golden Touch.  This week we began our new chapter book, The Chocolate Touch. I love this book! The students have been comparing King Midas and John Midas throughout the chapters. We will be filling in a Venn Diagram and this plot diagram.

Valentine's Day Glow Stick Dance Party~ At the end of our party, we turned out the lights and danced! My nerdy thirdies had a blast=)
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Whoa!!
When did this happen?
In honor of reaching 200 followers on TpT, our store will be on sale through February 18th!

Currently February

Hi ya'll!
I'm linking up for with Farley for her February edition of Currently.

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Listening~I love to get my groove on with Bruno Mars! 
Loving~ I know I am late to the party! I love all of the inspiration I have found.
Thinking~ I am sending out lots of prayers for those that I love.
Wanting~ Divorce and three college kids has been tough on my pocket book but I can now see the light at the end of this long tunnel =)
Needing~ Almost a year ago, our beloved pet passed away. Scruffy was 11 years old and my son's best friend. Now we have three big dogs and this house is always dusty and the floors are always messy.
We love our girls so much but I. NEED. HELP!

Pageant Title~ Miss Easy Rider~ I am usually very patient and try hard not to stress out over the little things. I try to look at every situation as a do~able task. I constantly say, "We can do this!"
 
Make sure to visit Farley and this fun link up!

Five for Sunday =)

Hi!
Today I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday {on a Sunday of course}!


First up for this post is the beautiful snow we had last week. It rarely snows here and the kids had a ton of fun. We took them out after P.E. We had a snowball fight and tried to catch snowflakes in our mouths. It was funtastic!

Later that day, this was my view on my way home. I live about 25 minutes from school and the mountain view is beautiful =)

In science, we learned about the layers of soil. We made these fun "soil in a cup" snacks to review.

In Science Lab, we made volcanoes and learned how they change the surface of the Earth.

Last, I wanted to share a new product that I can't wait to use. Our students love making lap books. Do yours? Well, Tina created a lap book for the beloved story, Stone Fox. She used this last year with her students and it was a huge hit. I'll be using it in the upcoming weeks and I'm just as excited as the kids.

Happy 2015

Happy New Year!
I'm beginning the new year with a linky with Farley!

*Listening~ I am so lucky that my son is a vocal major. He has tons of musicals on our itunes. He played the cello for this musical last year and I fell in love with the music. The movie did not disappoint me at all. I loved it!

*Loving~ I am finally on ig. And I have loved finding teachers to follow=)

*Thinking~ Enough said!

*Wanting~ I want to be healthy. I need to eat better and exercise every day! 

*Needing~ I leave school way too late. I'm usually one of the last teachers to leave. Actually, my whole grade level needs to leave at a reasonable time!

*Yes~ to exercise. I haven't exercised like I used to. No more excuses. It is a important!

*I Wish~ I wish I could take my mom to Scotland. She has a dear family friend that has invited us to visit. I want to make this happen this year!

Well, it's time to get to work! Hope you have a great 2015!
~lisa

Happy December

Hi! My name is Lisa. I have been a bad blogger.
I've been sick on and off for about 2 months.
I hope I have finally kicked the sick bug!

I want to share some fun from our classrooms leading up to Christmas. {Warning~ major picture overload!}

Third grade students made gingerbread houses. We always invite our student's families to join in on the fun!

Our students wrote our "Santa's Stuck in the Chimney" stories. This is Tina's display! It is so cute =)

My friend's Polar Express display. I love how he has the kids peeking out of the window!

The Legend of the Poinsettia sequencing display!

My multiplication Christmas tree. Students created multiplication problems on the ornaments. To find the answers, neighbors just had to lift the ornament. I love to differentiate and this math project allowed my students to write story problems at their levels =)

Tina's Little Match Girl display. I can't wait to read this story with my students when we get back!

My gifts to my students. Inside each bag I placed 3 books that I bought at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale. I bought mugs at Dollar Tree and used an oil based Sharpie to write each student's name. I followed these directions if you are interested! sharpie paint mug Then, I filled the mug with makings for peppermint mocha hot cocoa.

I don't know if I shared this yet, but I simply adore these kids. My friends are sweet, kind, thoughtful, respectful, funny, and sometimes a little sassy. And they love to learn! I love them so much. I have a wide range of abilities in this mix and sometimes it is so hard, but I truly adore them. Best. Year. Yet.






 Here are a few pics that are not really school related!

I love this picture. I asked Tina to take a pic before my students walked in from lunch. She didn't know to take a picture of, so my daughter suggested they take a selfie. I love these girls! {I meant a picture of the gifts on each desk!}






 
My bestie and I at our school Christmas party.






Thanks for hanging in there!
~lisa

Wish List Linky and a Sale

Good Saturday Morning!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with my mom and kids. And I didn't venture out to shop. I'm saving it for Cypber Monday!

Oh, have you heard?
TpT is having a Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale!

In honor of this momentous sale, we are joining the "Wish List Linky"!

 
The  top wish listed item in our store is our Third Grade Morning Math series.

Our whole third grade team uses this daily review and we love it! There are ten problems each day with a test on Fridays. The units cover place value, money, addition, subtraction, time, and patterns. They build up to include multiplication and division.

Our second most wish listed item is our States of Matter Unit.

 This unit was a life saver for me. This is my first year teaching Science in over a decade. Tina has made a few of these units that include a lesson, a picture sort, and an activity.

 I have many items on my wish list, but this is the one! Linda Kamp's Catch Me If You Can!


I found this last year after doing my Gingerbread Unit and I was so sad! This product looks amazing and I can't wait to get it on Monday!

What's on your wish list? You can visit the Linky {or even link up} here or on the pic below!

I can't wait to see what is on your list =)
~lisa