SHENANDOAH — Trinity Academy was “packed with history” Friday as part of a third-grade project, with special appearances by famous people such as Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Walt Disney, Betsy Ross, Sally Ride and Babe Ruth.
The project, coordinated by third-grade teacher Kimberly A. Kringe, helps the children learn about famous men and women of history who made their marks in the world by how they were and what they accomplished in their lifetimes.
The 17 students worked on their projects for about a month by creating a free-standing display and coming up with a costume depicting the person they studied. The completed projects were on display in the cafeteria Friday, allowing parents, grandparents and others to also learn about each person.
“Welcome to everyone to our living museum here today,” Kringe said. “I want to thank all the parents and grandparents who helped the project happen today. The children’s costumes are wonderful and their boards are well prepared and their time lines are well done, so thank you for the help that you gave.”
After opening with a prayer, Kringe said the class would be divided into two groups, with one group staying by their displays and telling the story of their historical person to anyone who stopped to listen, including their fellow classmates. After a half hour, the second half of the class would talk on their subject, giving everyone a chance to observe and learn.
The opening prayer was the “Hail Mary,” which was followed by a second prayer by Kringe.
“I’d like to pray a second prayer for the children who are telling the stories of these famous men and women,” she said. “May we be inspired by these stories that the children tell us to keep doing good in our world, because these famous people became famous because of the good they did.”
Students completed their projects using a biography book selected from the classroom library. The project earns a grade in reading, social studies and English, and will be applied to the fourth marking period.
After a student made a selection, he or she identified seven to 10 items that help tell the life story of the person. The objects were to represent important or interesting events the happened in the person’s life and be shown in a sequential order.
The children had an option of either using a free-standing display board to show the pictures of each object, along with a one or two sentence hand-written or type-written explanation of how the object relates to the person’s life, or creating a time line using pictures of objects that can be hand-drawn and colored or printed images found using a computer.
The students then prepared and practiced making a short oral report telling the life of the person. Kringe said the oral reports should be memorized.
In her instructions included in a letter to the parents, Kringe said the project is designed to help foster the students’ enjoyment of reading nonfiction writing, especially reading of biographies.
The historical figures selected were: Anthony Barbazote, Abraham Lincoln; John Burke, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Emily Conroy, Rosa Parks; Nolan Daynorowicz, Albert Einstein; Giavana Halford, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt; Kaitlain Jarrett, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta; Michael Johnson, Walt Disney; Diane Kim, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Alexis Leonard, Betsy Ross; Liam Messina, Babe Ruth; Anthony Milosh, Johnny Appleseed; Landon Monaghan, Jackie Robinson; Jarielys Nunez, Clara Barton; Alizabeth Pikitus, Sojourner Truth; Ximena Salmeron, Sally Ride; Francisco Tovar, Neil Armstrong; and Olivia Dudeck, Sacajawea.
Kringe said that the students jumped into the project with much interest.
“When the children were assigned their projects, they showed a lot of enthusiasm right from the start,” Kringe said. “They eagerly began reading their books and then started planning their costumes and what they were going to tell about these famous peoples’ lives.”
Milosh did his presentation on Johnny Appleseed. The first person he spoke to about his subject was his father, John Milosh, Ringtown.
Anthony chose his topic because he liked the story and what he did.
“I like him because he planted apple trees,” he said, admitting that he enjoys apples.
“I thought he was just throwing apple seeds all around, but he started whole farms,” John Milosh said.
There was no question about the person Leonard decided to study and portray after seeing her costume of red, white and blue. If Betsy Ross would have seen it, she would have been proud. When asked about why she picked the creator of the first American flag, Leonard said it was because she is inspiring.
“I picked her because she inspires everybody and inspires me to do big things and reach for the stars,” Leonard said.