Sometimes the greatest ideas are simply passed along. A few years back, Schlarman Academy South Campus third grade teacher Laurie Sermersheim was teaching in Georgetown, and she brought something she learned about there up to Schlarman Academy for the inaugural, first of many to come, Famous American Living Wax Museum. This is where the students choose a famous American, do reseach on him or her, and then talk about him on museum day.
But they only “come to life” and tell their story after someone places a coin in their donation box. The coins are then used for donations to something worthwhile, in this case a local food pantry. As Sermersheim explains, that’s what was going on in the gym Wednesday afternoon.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: The kids select a famous American, and we do research on that person. And then they prepare a presentation board; where it has all their vital statistics, why they’re famous, a timeline, a quote, their achievements, and words to describe them that the students selected after they learned about their famous American. Then, they make a note card and they present it to the class. Then, as a culmination, we are doing a Famous American Living Wax Museum.
The famous Americans being featured in the Schlarman Academy South Campus wax musuem on Wednesday included Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Gates, and Jackie Robinson.
