Revolutionary War WAX MUSEUM!

I know I'm a little late on the draw ... but these last few weeks always catch up with me TOO FAST! Here is the update on our 5th grade Early American Wax Museum!

The kiddos did an absolutely OUTSTANDING job at the Wax Museum. This teacher is SO proud!
If you haven't read any previous blogs about what this is all about, the kids pick someone that we have studied this year from Early America and create a research paper {and Biography poster} on them.

We then spend a LOT of time practicing and memorizing this {they were about 1-2 minutes long} Kids are required to bring at least one prop and are encouraged to wear a costume {or as much of one as they had - ex. white t-shirt can be manipulated into anything!} Then we raid my costume closet full of old clothes I used to dress up in when I was a kid and finish off the kids who were unable to obtain certain parts of their wardrobe or prop.

The kids than stand in the hallway and freeze like wax figurines and wait for someone to push their "button" for them to "come alive" and share their speech ... then go "back to sleep."Other classes are invited to attend as well as parents, grandparents and other student relatives!

Here are some of our characters this year ... .. .. . ....   .

 Abigail Adams coming to life: "Oh Hello, I was just writing a letter to my husband John ..." 

 Queen Isabella - sent Christopher Columbus to the New World

This little gal came to us FROM SPAIN this year and started her speech out in spanish - adorable!

 Thomas Jefferson - author of the Declaration of Independence

 King George 3rd - British king during the American Revolution {notice all the tax money at his feet?} He was a popular character among the kids due to his "bad guy" reputation - these are the two "Georges" from my two different 5th grade classes

Paul Revere - Horse and all {LOVE IT!} 

"The British are Coming! The British are COMING!"

 Betsy Ross making her flag

 Benjamin Franklin - inventor of the lightning rod and bifocal glasses 

{loving this kids spectacles!}

 Squanto - did you know he had blond hair?! Me neither!

 Molly "Pitcher" Hayes - serving water from her bucket to thirsty injured men on

the battle field!

 Pocahontas starting a fire

Christopher Columbus - using his compass to discover America {the hat makes him look a bit more Charles Dickens'ish but it's cute!} smile.

Captain Myles Standish - did you know he had quite a temper? This little guy acted it out perfectly! {and yes, that is the Lorax mustache ... but Myles had a bushy red beard as well!} 

John Hancock - Signed his name BIG on the Declaration of Independence so that 

"the King and all of Parliament would see it WITHOUT using their Spectacles!" {actual quote}

As you can see, it was a MAJOR success and my teacher heart is full of joy! 

"We're bringing ASIA back - HEP!"

no, we are not bringing sexy back in my class today, but we are bringing ASIA back!

The Story: During dress rehearsal for the Wax museum tomorrow (insert excitement!), one of the kids *Marco Polo* forgot to bring a prop - one kid exclaimed, "OH NO! We've lost Asia!". I began scrounging around in my costume/prop cupboard and suddenly remembered that I had a whole BOX of Asian inspired items given to me from my Grami when she retired AMAZING 3rd grade teacher. She comes in on Thursdays and helps me so she was here today and I exclaimed that she helped us out by bringing ASIA back! Needless to say, all of us began singing Timberlake's song - "we're bringing ASIA back - HEP!" Yes. We. Are. Awesome.

Today, we practiced even more HARD CORE for the wax museum tomorrow. I have been having the students earmuff see here, read to partners, and do our "speed dating" style sharing so we can get these lines DOWN! I have the right side say their lines to the left {who has the paper} by memory for a minute and a half {some kids speeches were longer even longer than this! YAY!} then they switch and the right says theirs .... then I say "rotate - 5,4,3,2,1" when I get to one they know to be silent and ready to begin it all over again with a new partner. Works like a charm!

::Speed speeches set up::

Today was also dress rehearsal - the kids brought what they could find/buy for their costumes, then we had an auction AKA Mrs. B decides who needs/gets what item and outfitted everyone from my classroom costume wardrobe. As many of you have noticed from my blog, I absolutely ADORE dressing up, particularly in historical clothing - always have .... actually almost all of these items are from my dress up box as a kid :) 

::Myself looking like a dork giving instructions - please pay no mind the mess of costumes behind me! 

We set the chairs up facing the carpet and practiced, and practiced, and practiced! 

THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Best group YET! They had their lines memorized *most of them* the costumes were great, acting was animated, and the content was RICH!

So. Stinkin. Proud.

Can't WAIT for tomorrow!

P.S. We did do SOME content ... today I introduced Runde's Room's  AMAZING play off of Tammy McGregor's "Reading Comprehension Salad" by creating a Reading Comprehension SUNDAE - definitely more kid friendly ;) We created an anchor chart together and went over each of the different layers and how they are a metaphor for each strategy. I would HIGHLY recommend obtaining this from Runde's TPT store. The kids really enjoyed it and it really seemed to help them remember each strategy better. The only thing that would make this lesson a tad bit better would perhaps be a real ice cream sundae celebration ... we just didn't have time or money this end of the year - maybe next year!

Roller Coasters and Wax Figurines

     Does anyone else's desk look like this? or am I the only one with growing "piles"?? Please say no! and Yes, that is a pot on top of that stack of papers...a COOKING POT!

*ha*

I can't even begin to explain how I feel right now. 

tired. 

  stressed. 

     frustrated.

       proud. 

         excited. 

            impatient. 

               accomplished. 

                   behind. 

                      energetic. 

                         sad. 

                            thrilled. 

                                yep .. .. . it's definitely the end of the year ;) 

     This emotional roller coaster prevails from about March 31st {the exact moment I realize IT IS MAY!} till 5th grade graduation - for us June 7th this year.

I felt this mixture more than ever coming down on the end of this year .. ... .

My group this year has an absolutely beautiful innocence... .  however, once in a while, their sweet immaturity is overridden by an incredible lack of common sense. For 5th grade, some of their problem solving skills are a bit lacking. It drives me BUGGY! Frustration and impatience are felt in moments when, simple YEAR long procedures cannot be remembered We are talking going to the bathroom people, instructions are repeated nearly 1,000 x's I exaggerate, puzzled looks of not knowing what to do with a sweatshirt found on the ground is this real life??, asking where they should cut on the dotted line that has a pair of SCISSORS on it, Columbus apparently set sail in 2002 Think, does this make sense!?, and so-n-so is sitting in so-in-so's chair and no one knows what to do about it ... . . . .yes, it begins making one feel like mad King Ludwig! without his KILLER castle, unfortunately. 

Mad King Ludwig's Fairy tale Castle

 On the flip side,  their immaturity also means that they LOVE EVERYTHING! For 5th grade this is quite remarkable - generally they are much "too cool" for most everything! But these kiddos are enthusiastic about ALL lessons, ALL activities, ALL trips, ALL THE TIME! Joy is felt in moments when students clamber to volunteer for activities, cheer because they get to go "Rock shopping", proudly wear their "planet" hats to the lunchroom, scream out their fluency mantra and hand motions for the whole school to hear, and tell you how much they enjoy learning from you. It is beautiful. It is exasperating. It is what I love about teaching :)

Ok, time to climb out of my head!

     The kiddos have been working on our culminating 5th grade Social studies/writing/language/speaking project this week. We do a Wax museum of early American characters that we have studied throughout the year. They present an oral biography of their person during our “Wax Museum: America’s Walk of Fame.” The students memorize the information, dress up in some way and/or use props, and are frozen,like a wax figurine, with a sticker on their hand. The sticker serves as their “on” button. Visitors will press the button to activate the students acting and dialogue. Other classes are invited to attend as well as parents, grandparents and other student relatives! I make this an "at home" project, but due to the lack of home support many of my students have, I end up giving a lot of "in class" time to work on it. I send home a Parent letter explaining what the event is, what the students are expected to prepare for it, due dates, example reports, requirements, etc. I also attach a list of characters that we have studied along with some lesser known characters during early American history that they can help their child choose. They then have their child list their top three choices and return the top three slip signed BY A PARENT. This ensures not receiving any angry/confused parent letters come the report and poster due date. You can get my wax museum packet here.

     One of the requirements was to create a poster of their character. I get these biography posters from the local teacher store. You can find them here. The kids did an amazing job of doing the research and really making these look attractive! They will hang behind the kids in the hallway during the museum.

     Another requirement was to write a biographical report on their character but change it into first person to be used as their museum "speech". We did not do these in class together this year {contemplating it being our informational writing next year ... however, they tend to get to long for a speech if it is the actual paper}but I was impressed with how well they turned out! They were due this Monday and since then we have been practicing HARD CORE. Every morning I have them pair off and read their speech, hand it to their partner, say it without the paper, vice versa, then they must "earmuff" it 3x's somewhere around the room to themselves. Does anyone else use earmuff a lot? I use it ALL THE TIME - it makes my heart feel so good when I look around and see my kiddos so focused on editing, reading, re-reading, or practicing fluency - whatever we are using it for that day. {happy heart}

Anyways .. .. .. .
Most of them have it memorized and it is only Tuesday! Yippy! Thursday we will be having a dress rehearsal where we bring out costumes {I supply kids with needed props/costumes from my costume closet who need it on this day} and perform our speeches in front of the class. It is pretty much a shot morning, but makes the performance in the hallway THAT MUCH BETTER! 

Look for more pictures coming soon on the Wax Museum ... ... . . .