WHEELING - Betsy Ross, George Lucas, Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson and Selena Gomez are just a few of the famous people that second-grade students at Wheeling Country Day School had the opportunity learn about in a creative and fun way during a wax museum classroom program.
As part of the recent reading assignment, 19 students had to present five to 10 interesting facts about a historic or famous person. They also had to make a brief speech about who they were representing, after posing as a wax figure of their chosen individual.
Teacher Karen Mead said the project was assigned to inspire the students to research facts and present a biography.
Emma McFarland as BETSY?ROSS
Alaina Bell as AMELIA?EARHART
Anthony Cavicchia as Samuel Adams
Jack Selmon as JACKIE?ROBINSON
"For the final part of the project, they dressed as the character and turned into a wax museum figure," Mead said. "There are historical figures and there are figures from the past and present. But mainly, they got to choose the famous person they are interested in and then they had to learn how to research facts about that character and present it in an interesting and creative way."
During the program, the students stood around the perimeter of a large classroom spaced a few feet apart while presenting their chosen famous figure with two different poses. Parents, grandparents and school faculty all had a chance to walk around the room and view each student dressed in their chosen costume. Emma McFarland posed as Betsy Ross sewing an American flag, Alaina Bell stood at attention saluting as Amelia Earhart, Deuce Figaretti presented "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and Brooklyn Wayt posed as Helen Keller as part of the program.
After the visitors had a chance to walk around the classroom and view each wax figure, one by one, the figures seemed to come to life after their teacher pretended to push an automated button located behind them.
Each student presented a creative interpretation that included factual details about their chosen famous character.
Visiting family members were provided an opportunity to participate in the fun, as they were encouraged to guess who each student was representing following their speech.
The students enjoyed the spotlight of creative reading assignment, one that will help them recall facts for years to come about the famous figures they each represented.