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Michael Pannell selected Elvis Presley because he said he didn't think anyone else had chosen him before. He said it was challenging to stand still for so long, especially in shoes with such big heels.
Elvis Presley was in the building—in Traut Core Knowledge Elementary School, to be exact. So was Ansel Adams, Marie Antoinette, Jackie Robinson and Sacajawea, along with a host of other legendary figures spanning several centuries.
From explorers to presidents and inventors to entertainers, people of the past were remembered last week. For one day, the Fort Collins school’s gymnasium was transformed into a living history wax museum.
The characters weren’t exactly made of wax like the famous mannequins at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum; Instead, they were sixth graders dressed in ornate costumes who assumed motionless positions when given the command. The silence was more representative of a library than a gym, and the posed students barely blinked as younger classes in single file lines walked by the 75 exhibits.
“When a person you know goes by and stares at you, it’s hard not to laugh,” said sixth-grader Summer Paulson, who was dressed as Elizabeth Blackwell, the world’s first woman doctor.
For the fourth and final year, Traut Core Knowledge sixth-graders were given the project of researching a historical figure and turning them into “wax” figures. They each read a biography on the person they selected, created a poster board display, gave a presentation to classmates and with the help of a dedicated parent volunteer, planned for their character transformation for the rest of the school and even community members to see.
“It has become a whole school event.” said Leslie Wells, a sixth-grade teacher at Traut. “It’s something that the sixth-graders always looked forward to. It’s definitely a tender spot, knowing that this will be the last time we will be a part of it.”
Because of grade configuration, the sixth-graders in Poudre School District will be moving up to the junior high schools next year. And, because fifth-grade curriculum is already established, Wells said it is not likely that the project will live on. It’s one of the smaller things that might just get lost in translation with the grade changes.
Wells said the project has become a way for the sixth-graders to give something back to the younger grades. In addition, it fulfilled reading, writing and technology standards. The students had to create a timeline and graphics, write a poem and use adverbs and adjectives to describe their person.
Paulson selected Blackwell because she said she like the idea of becoming a doctor. More specifically, she wants to become a veterinarian one day.
“Elizabeth Blackwell seemed interesting,” Paulson said. “She was the first woman doctor in the world. She graduated from Geneva Medical School. The thing I found most interesting is she had a glass eye.”
Paulson wore a black dress that was her grandmothers and borrowed her mother’s stethoscope. She sat in a rocking chair, examining a baby doll, while onlookers strolled through.
For students who didn’t have a costume of their own, Pat Bagley gladly helped to pull one together. Bagley has volunteered with Trout for 14 years. With her own sizable costume collection at home and an ever-growing one at Trout, Bagley helps costume students for plays and other class projects. Because she has a background in theater, she also will visit the classrooms dressed as different characters.
“I think these kids learn so much more by becoming the characters,” Bagley said. “The kids get so excited about it. Even the boys get excited about dressing up as their characters.”
Bagley helped organize a costume and scene for Wynne Wilson, who dressed as Ronald Reagan. In a blue suit and power tie, he sat in an oversized chair at a desk near an American flag. He said he picked Reagan because his dad always talks about what a great president he was and what he did for the country. Bagley then spouted off all kinds of facts about Reagan—he was the 40th President of the United States, worked as a lifeguard when he was a kid and died from Alzheimer’s.
“I learned he liked jelly beans a lot and was in a lot of movies,” Wilson said.
The students took periodic breaks to stretch, change positions and maintain circulation. Wells said they did have a student faint a few years ago, but that the teachers talk to the students about how to pose and what positions work best. All the students came up with a standing and a seated position.
For Gabby Fleischli, those poses were inside a full-sized metal boat. She portrayed a character from one of her favorite movies, Titanic. She chose Molly Brown, who was played by Kathy Bates in the movie.
Fleischli found out that a fourth-grade teacher owned a boat, and she asked if she could use it. She wore a floppy black hat from which long ringlet curls dangled, and a laced dress with strands of pearls around her neck. During one of the breaks, Fleischli shared what she learned during the project.
“I didn’t know Molly Brown moved to Leadville to live with her sister when she was younger,” Fleischli said. “I learned more about her early life and not just about the Titanic.”
Fleischli said her favorite part about the assignment was making the poster board and doing the research. She said she was lucky she had the chance to participate in the wax museum.
“My littler sister is in the third-grade and wants to do this really bad, but she won’t get to.”
From explorers to presidents and inventors to entertainers, people of the past were remembered last week. For one day, the Fort Collins school’s gymnasium was transformed into a living history wax museum.
The characters weren’t exactly made of wax like the famous mannequins at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum; Instead, they were sixth graders dressed in ornate costumes who assumed motionless positions when given the command. The silence was more representative of a library than a gym, and the posed students barely blinked as younger classes in single file lines walked by the 75 exhibits.
“When a person you know goes by and stares at you, it’s hard not to laugh,” said sixth-grader Summer Paulson, who was dressed as Elizabeth Blackwell, the world’s first woman doctor.
For the fourth and final year, Traut Core Knowledge sixth-graders were given the project of researching a historical figure and turning them into “wax” figures. They each read a biography on the person they selected, created a poster board display, gave a presentation to classmates and with the help of a dedicated parent volunteer, planned for their character transformation for the rest of the school and even community members to see.
“It has become a whole school event.” said Leslie Wells, a sixth-grade teacher at Traut. “It’s something that the sixth-graders always looked forward to. It’s definitely a tender spot, knowing that this will be the last time we will be a part of it.”
Because of grade configuration, the sixth-graders in Poudre School District will be moving up to the junior high schools next year. And, because fifth-grade curriculum is already established, Wells said it is not likely that the project will live on. It’s one of the smaller things that might just get lost in translation with the grade changes.
Wells said the project has become a way for the sixth-graders to give something back to the younger grades. In addition, it fulfilled reading, writing and technology standards. The students had to create a timeline and graphics, write a poem and use adverbs and adjectives to describe their person.
Paulson selected Blackwell because she said she like the idea of becoming a doctor. More specifically, she wants to become a veterinarian one day.
“Elizabeth Blackwell seemed interesting,” Paulson said. “She was the first woman doctor in the world. She graduated from Geneva Medical School. The thing I found most interesting is she had a glass eye.”
Paulson wore a black dress that was her grandmothers and borrowed her mother’s stethoscope. She sat in a rocking chair, examining a baby doll, while onlookers strolled through.
For students who didn’t have a costume of their own, Pat Bagley gladly helped to pull one together. Bagley has volunteered with Trout for 14 years. With her own sizable costume collection at home and an ever-growing one at Trout, Bagley helps costume students for plays and other class projects. Because she has a background in theater, she also will visit the classrooms dressed as different characters.
“I think these kids learn so much more by becoming the characters,” Bagley said. “The kids get so excited about it. Even the boys get excited about dressing up as their characters.”
Bagley helped organize a costume and scene for Wynne Wilson, who dressed as Ronald Reagan. In a blue suit and power tie, he sat in an oversized chair at a desk near an American flag. He said he picked Reagan because his dad always talks about what a great president he was and what he did for the country. Bagley then spouted off all kinds of facts about Reagan—he was the 40th President of the United States, worked as a lifeguard when he was a kid and died from Alzheimer’s.
“I learned he liked jelly beans a lot and was in a lot of movies,” Wilson said.
The students took periodic breaks to stretch, change positions and maintain circulation. Wells said they did have a student faint a few years ago, but that the teachers talk to the students about how to pose and what positions work best. All the students came up with a standing and a seated position.
For Gabby Fleischli, those poses were inside a full-sized metal boat. She portrayed a character from one of her favorite movies, Titanic. She chose Molly Brown, who was played by Kathy Bates in the movie.
Fleischli found out that a fourth-grade teacher owned a boat, and she asked if she could use it. She wore a floppy black hat from which long ringlet curls dangled, and a laced dress with strands of pearls around her neck. During one of the breaks, Fleischli shared what she learned during the project.
“I didn’t know Molly Brown moved to Leadville to live with her sister when she was younger,” Fleischli said. “I learned more about her early life and not just about the Titanic.”
Fleischli said her favorite part about the assignment was making the poster board and doing the research. She said she was lucky she had the chance to participate in the wax museum.
“My littler sister is in the third-grade and wants to do this really bad, but she won’t get to.”
