North Webster Fifth-Graders Become Historical Figures
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
NORTH WEBSTER - Historic American figures took over the hallways of North Webster Elementary School Friday morning.
The famous Americans were actually students in Mitch Willaman's fifth-grade class."We are dressed up as historical famous people from the past who helped the world today," said student Jett Parzygnot.
The students act as wax statues. When someone hits a "button," the wax figures "come to life." Parzygnot said they explain what the person they are imitating did and how they helped the world. Each student gave a 3-minute speech they had memorized. Pictures of the famous person also were hung up behind the student that they drew in art class, said Willaman.
"We've been practicing since April," said Parzygnot.
Information on the subjects, such as Abigail Adams, Daniel Boone, Jackie Robinson and Amelia Earhart, was gathered by the students from the Internet, encyclopedias and books from the library, said Parzygnot. Parzygnot portrayed Pocahontas.
Willaman said this is the fourth year that he had his fifth-grade class portray famous Americans they studied in class. Each student writes their own script.
Asked if the work was difficult, student Trey Varney, portraying Thomas Alva Edison, said, "It's kind of inbetween because you have to write your script and do a lot of research to do it. Then you have to memorize it. It was fun, a lot of fun. It also makes you nervous because you're giving a speech to about every kid in school."
