On the first day of school during Q & A one of the first questions is always, “When do we do the Wax Museum?!” The excitement builds all year, and the kiddos are so ready by the time it is here! We spend 3 1/2 weeks on this project.
There are 3 parts: The research paper, a brochure, and a speech/costume to dress as their Famous American! We “open” our wax museum at Open House for parents, and at school for 2 hours for all of the students to go through.
Every year I am amazing at what my students research and learn. They can choose anyone from the list of 50+ Americans I give them, or write a 3-5 sentence persuasive paragraph why they should get to do someone not on the list.
Without further adieu, here are pictures of it all in action!
{Speech practice before the big day!}
{Placing his American in the right place on the hall way time line– I do an informal timeline grade with this!}
{Our hallway timeline}
{Entrance to the museum}
{Gabby Douglas and Mia Hamm}
{Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, me, Mickey Mantle, and Walter Payton}
{Ginger Rogers, Mary Cassat, Shirley Temple, and Mary Kay Ash}
{Mary Kay Ash- she was ADORABLE in action! Complete with a southern accent. 🙂 }
{Mary Cassat, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Norman Rockwell}
{Guion Bluford and Neil Armstrong}
{Alexander Graham Bell–loved the whole display!}
{Clara Barton}
{This one was AH-mazing! He is my little light show director (see yesterday’s post) and he was so excited about being Nikola Tessla! He even showed how he “made lightning” during his speech!}
{A close up of a timeline at their stations}
{Group photo!}
As you can see, my students were VERY passionate about their projects! It is one of my favorite things to do each year, and I love seeing how proud they are of their work. We throw a big party the Monday after it’s all done to celebrate their hard work–This year we had Red, White, and Blue rice krispies, jello, punch, and popcorn! We watched 2 episodes of Liberty Kids, too. 🙂
If you’d like to try out this project with your kiddos, I have a step-by-step guide in my TPT store with everything you need!
I’m linking this up with my BBB Joanne because this unit certainly sparks student motivation in my classroom! 🙂
Wow – this looks like super engaging and exciting! It's the kind of thing I need for my middle schoolers! 🙂
-Lisa
Mrs. Spangler in the Middle
I mean, this is RIDICULOUSLY MOTIVATING! Your kids are so impressive! Their enthusiasm and pride that went into these projects is obvious from the photos! Such a great idea to get students excited about research! I love Mary Kay Ash with her makeup display! 🙂 I noticed she had brochures too, did each student do that? Thanks for sharing and linking up BBB!
~Joanne xoxo
Head Over Heels For Teaching
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