Greenwich Elementary third graders transformed into wax statues of historical people during their annual historical wax museum on June 6.
Third grade teachers Amy Young and Allison Scheidt ask their students to each read a book about a historical person and then write a speech as if they were that person. Then, the students each created and wore a costume. It was about a month-long process.
“They presented it like they were a wax statue of that person,” Scheidt said. “They get to pick somebody they’re interested in and then they get to go through the whole writing process and create a poster and making a costume.”
The previous day, the third graders presented their historical wax museum to the other students in the school. On June 6, they presented it to their families.
“They get public speaking practice, the practice of research and learning about someone and what it takes to put a whole costume together,” Scheidt said. “They love it. They can learn about somebody that they’re really interested in and they love being able to present it to their families and be proud of their work… and the other classes come so they love being able to present it to their friends in the school as well.”
The historical wax statues included Annie Oakley, Elvis Presley, Rosa Parks, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Sitting Bull, and Neil Armstrong, to name a few.
Alannah Polous, 9, portrayed Annie Oakley, who learned that Oakley won a lot of medals and melted them all down to donate the money to treatments for tuberculosis.
“Because that killed two of her sisters so then she wanted to give the money to treatment,” said Polous.
She liked sharing the wax museum with the school and present to other kids.
“It was very fun,” Polous said.
