Fourth-Graders Really Get Into Character

The hallways of Shiloh Hills Elementary were lined with statues.

Frozen along the walls were 90 of the most famous figures in history. Alexander the Great stood alongside Helen Keller; Louisa May Alcott was next to Jesse Owens.

The event was no touring exhibit. It was fourth-graders from Shiloh Hills exploring history. Each child wrote a speech and dressed in costume and then all of them lined up in the school’s hallways, which took on the feel of a giant wax museum.

Other students and adults walked among the students posing as historic figures. A touch to one of their hands woke them and they recited a 30-second biographical talk that their character might have made about him or herself.

Younger students giggled and watched as the fourth-graders came alive.

The exercise was designed to get each fourth-grader invested in history, teacher Joann Harmon said. Children from three fourth-grade classes participated.

Harmon offered students a list of hundreds of historic figures to choose from.

Just a few of the characters who emerged from the history books last week are:

Kendal Reasor chose to play Alexander the Great and studied encyclopedias to know that he was the king of Macedonia.

Wendy Mercer and Desiree Hall watched the movie “The Miracle Worker” to learn about the lives of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller.

Melissa Adkins played Sarah Winnemucca, a Piute Indian woman who interpreted between settlers and her tribe. Stephanie Wood played Pocohantos.

Trina Throckmorton played Marie Curie and studied a biography of how she and her husband studied uranium.

Kara Twillegar played a thoughful Jane Adams, who helped establish child labor laws. Rachel Dehn played Rachel Carson, an environmentalist.

Lindsey Mahoney took on the character of Amelia Earhart and explained how Earhart’s husband had promised always to encourage her flying - even if it worried him.

Deana Castor recreated how Betsy Ross, a Quaker seamstress, sewed Old Glory.

Tanya Baker told how Louisa May Alcott served as a nurse in the Union Army before penning her novels.

Plans for portables

Spokane School District 81 plans to install portable classrooms at Holmes Elementary School and North Central High School this summer.

Letters of commendation

Spokane Public Schools personnel assistant Gordon Elmes sent letters of commendation last week to the three North Side teachers who were in Nishinomiya, Japan, at the time of the earthquake.

The teachers - Amanda Wood, an English teacher at North Central High School, Stephanie Armijo, a Spanish and Japanese language teacher at Rogers, and Joan Frank, a fifth grade teacher from Stevens Elementary - were spending two years as exchange teachers in Nishinomiya.

Frank returns to Spokane this summer after two years. Armijo and Wood plan to stay abroad for their second years.

ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.