Grimes School class creates Living Wax Museum
Ms. Caroline Prydal’s fourth grade class at Grimes School launched its first informational text unit for 4th grade during the months of November and December 2022. They started the unit by learning how to read and determine important information when reading biographies.
After they understood how to read informational texts, specifically biographies, they started planning their Living Wax Museum. First, students were assigned a famous person that they were required to research and become experts on. They researched famous people from all walks of life including Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan, and more.
Students then drafted biographies, timelines, themes from their person's life, and a speech from their person's perspective. Students worked hard to determine the most important information that needed to be included.
"I didn't know a lot of stuff about Michael Jordan that I know now,” said Princeton Hinds, fourth-grade student at Grimes School. “Like when he played with the flu before. If I didn't have to do the research, I don't think I would have learned all of these facts. I think the people (Ms. Prydal) assigned us really fit our personalities too."
After conferencing, students were ready to publish their work and create displays for the museum.
They spent a week creating displays for the presentations. Along with their physical displays, they practiced their speeches. They did this by creating a "recording booth" students put their displays up and recorded themselves on their computers. They then listened back to their recordings and determined what changes they needed to make, what words challenged them, and if they made their speech sound interesting.
"I liked pretending to be the person more than just reading about him because I liked explaining to people about Pablo Picasso,” said Max Robinson, fourth-grade student at Grimes.
The unit culminated with the school community viewing the class’s Living Wax Museum. Guests from kindergarten to sixth grade navigated through the displays, listening intently to the class’s work.
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