4th Grade’s First Wax Museum!

By: Kobie Parrish

The Arlington fourth-grade classes put together their first “wax museum” this year! What is this wax museum you say? Well, I decided to go and ask the kids themselves about what it was. Below is a small interview that I had with Ms. Schneider’s fourth-grade class. The kids overall seemed to really enjoy it and I had a fun time listening and learning to what they had to say. With that, below are some questions I had for them as well as their responses!

To start out, my first question was what was the Wax Museum all about? How did it work?

The main idea of the wax museum was to tell people more about famous people and their mark left on history. The way it worked was that the students choose a book, which was about the person on the cover and they would research them. They had to write a research paper, they had to memorize a short speech about their character, then finally make props for their characters. They would then have a coin jar set up in front of them and when someone would put a coin in they would come to life and recite their speech to the person.

Were the kids limited to a certain group of people or were they allowed to be whoever they wanted?

The kids had a choice to be somebody that was in the Who was…? book series. The people in the series consisted of historical figures such as inventors, pathfinders, entertainers, and in general those who’ve had an influence on history.

What different types of “wax statues” were out there?

There were many different people out there including, but not limited to Annie Oakley, Steve Irwin, Anne Frank, Jackie Kennedy, Jesse Owens, Amelia Earhart, and William Shakespeare.

Where does the money that was received go?

Toward our elementary library to get more of the Who Was…? books, the kids really enjoy those books and want more of them. The students unfortunately didn’t have enough this year for each kid so some of them had to choose a person from a list.

How long did it take to organize all of this?

In total, around 2 months.

Who came up with this idea of doing a wax museum?

Ms. Schneider, but the students made it come to life. “The students made it way too cool,” Ms. Schneider said.

What were some interesting things you learned about the person you picked?

Leonardo Da Vinci and what he did in his life, how he painted The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.
Amelia Earhart and how she was the first female pilot to fly across the Pacific Ocean.
Sacagawea’s life and how she died at the age of 24.

During the time that I was interviewing them, Mrs. Haught’s first-grade class had unexpectedly come in to read a letter, out-loud, that they had written for them. It read as a thank you letter for inviting them to the “fantastic and fun wax museum.” The first graders thought it was cool how they portrayed their characters and how they made them come to life! They also said they couldn’t wait to do it when they are in 4th grade. How sweet of the first graders that they made this letter!

My final question, which coincidentally the first graders asked too, was if Mrs. Schneider would be doing this again next year, especially when the first graders move up to the fourth grade. Mrs. Schneider said, “As long as I’m still here, I’ll still do it!” Again congratulations to the fourth graders on their wax museum and I look forward to hearing about it next year!

(Update) The kids on 1/11/19 had presented a check for $646.43 which will allow them to buy the entire Who is/Who Was... book series for the elementary library. Congratulations to the 4th grade on their successful wax museum this year!