The day before we left for vacation, Carter took part in the 5th grade “wax museum.” A few months ago everyone had to pick a famous person in history to research and write a report about. (Remember, Carter switched to George Washington because he “couldn’t find any information on Albert Einstein.”)
Fifty million steps later (the written report, timeline, hand drawn illustrations, compose 10 questions about, etc) the final piece of the project was to create a 5 minute first-person oral presentation/speech about your person. The wax museum format had each of the kids stationed in front of their table with visual displays and props, including a red “push me” button. Over a two hour period, every time someone came by their display and pushed their start button, they were to give their prepared speech.
(The yarn braid and baby powder was my doing. The suit is from Wendy’s wedding — all 3 have been used as costumes over and over again these past two years.)
Teachers took turns taking their elementary school classes to visit the wax museum. Carter gave his speech 15 to 20 times.
I never knew that when George Washington married Martha she brought two kids into the marriage (and was the wealthiest woman in Virginia at the time), but he never had any kids of his own. I also learned (from another kid) that Henry Ford was an anti-Semite, which sounded especially funny in the first person format when the kid said “I hated Jews.”