Wax Museums = Engagement!

I'm a little late to the party.  I've been pulling a LOT of late nighters lately, and I just haven't had the extra time or energy needed to blog effectively.  I hope you will forgive me. :)  I actually hosted our Wild Ones Wax Museum and Biography Wax Museum about a week ago, but time seriously got away from me when I started preparing for my third and final OTES evaluation on top of everything else.  If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already realize how long it has been.  Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.  Right?!

So, here's the scoop without further adieu.  My third graders researched animals, and my fourth graders researched famous Americans.  We wove our Internet inquiry into the class time, but it didn't dominate our lessons by any means.  I checked several books out of the library as well to give my kiddos a starting point.  When I started to realize how detailed the vast majority of the drafts were, I decided to forgo the memorized speech component this time around. I  would much rather have really detailed, thoughtful, well-crafted reports than short, sterile speeches any day of the week.  A few students wrote longer reports, then memorized condensed versions for the museum itself.  They honestly blew me away. I decided to give them more freedom this time around as well, so I had some kids creating tri-fold posters, PowerPoints, artifacts (like a phone, a homemade flag, and a picket sign), and some kids even brought in sound effects.  I think structure is a very important thing, but I also believe that if you give kids parameters, it's okay to let them be creative within that structure.  I never want to fall into the trap of doing all of the thinking for my students. Fostering creativity is SO important.

I really wish I could share every single picture (without the face covering so you could see all of the mustaches that graced their faces) and every single report.  If I didn't have to worry about my page loading slower than molasses and that pesky thing called bandwidth... I would.  I SO would.  I would totally immerse you in all 56 reports because without seeing them all, it's hard to show the depth of their work.  It's hard to show just how amazing they turned out.  The few pictures I'm adding to this post just don't do them justice.  Some things, you just have to experience in real life.  :)  This is definitely one of those things.  Fortunately, we had plenty of visitors that Friday.  We had ten different classes tour between the two grade levels, and my students were psyched.  One of my students even informed me that it was the "best day ever". Of course, that makes my teacher heart go pitter-pat.

Here's some of my  fourth grade crew!  Below you can see Ruby Bridges, Alexander Graham Bell, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, Paul Revere, Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart.

Here's Annie Oakley, Abraham Lincoln, Betsy Ross, Sally Ride, Martin Luther King, Lance Armstrong, and  Harriet Tubman!

Here's a shot of Susan B. Anthony, Abe Lincoln (again), and a few informational displays!

Wait until you see these reports!  I seriously had a really hard time just picking a few to share.  I could have gotten really carried away with this part. As we near the end of the year, I am also in AWE of how much my second-year kiddos have grown.  It's been so neat seeing them grow over the course of two school years.  May is going to be hard on me.  There will be tears, no doubt.

Next up?!  The Wild Ones! :)  This was so much fun!  I really enjoyed seeing how my third grade kiddos morphed into critters.  In the photos below, you can see a scorpion, a koala, an elephant, and octopus, a kangaroo, an Arctic fox, an eagle, a long-necked tortoise, a jaguar, a tiger, a platypus, a coyote, a lion, and a sloth.  Everyone seriously looked adorable and so, so convincing!  ;)

If you're looking for an engaging and challenging way to immerse your students in report writing, this is seriously SO much fun!  It's one of my favorite lessons of all time. I really believe in giving students a creative outlet, as aforementioned, but I also believe in giving them an authentic audience.  When they know they will be sharing their work with others, the writing always reflects more hard work and critical thinking. My students exceeded my expectations to the Nth degree. You could even say they went "one extra degree".  (Wink, wink!)  I could not be any happier with the way it turned out, and hopefully my students came out of it with better writing skills, stronger research skills, and a memory that will endure for the rest of their lives.