Friday Flashback Linky: Living Museum

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!  And a short work day, as well!  WooHoo!  They were calling for a "wintry mix" to begin mid-day today (mostly freezing rain and/or sleet).  Then around 9:00 our principal came over the intercom and told all teachers to go check their emails right away.  Although it wasn't doing anything outside at the time (nope, not even rain) it said that the district would be dismissing all schools at 10:00! This was the view from my classroom window at dismissal time.  Gotta love living in the south! :)

I was tempted to keep this a secret for a bit longer so that the students weren't going crazy (we still needed to get a couple of things accomplished), but I decided to break the news to them.  And, to my surprise, they were UPSET!!

Seriously?  Where did these kids come from?  They were saying things like, "I don't want to go home," and "I don't want to leave Mrs. Madden," or "I'll miss Mrs. Madden today."

TALK ABOUT WARMING YOUR HEART!!!  This just may be one of the most loving classes EVER!

And then, all of a sudden one of my sweet girls says, "I KNOW IT'S THE SADDEST DAY EVER.  I'LL MISS  Mrs. Madden PIZZA!"  Hahahaha.....yep, that's right....I'm in competition with pizza, people!

That comment right there made me realize that I had to link up with Ashley from Primary Teacherhood for her new "Friday Funnies Linky."

I mean, we can all use a laugh by Friday, and let's face it, kids say the funniest things!  One day earlier this week, we were working on some more descriptive writing and one table had decided to use the word "icy" and one of my precious boys BROKE OUT into Ice Ice Baby!! Seriously, broke out - as in we had Vanilla Ice in our classroom for a couple of minutes!  I was almost on the floor rolling!  It's great to know some parents are keeping the 80's/90's alive!

Okay, back to my linky.  I had hoped to have more things to share this week, but we really needed to wrap them up today and with our early dismissal, it just didn't happen.

We did have our Living Museum yesterday and it was AMAZING....as usual!  It is always one of the top events of our year!  Everyone from other classes to administrators to parents to grandparents come and they all leave in awe.  Last year, I got the SWEETEST email from a grandmother after the event and this year I had a mom asking me to move up to 3rd grade next year!  They LOVE it!

If you teach biographies (or history) I highly recommend hosting a Living Museum if you haven't already.  Here are a few pics from ours.

Each student chose a famous person to learn about.  We did all of the reading, research and learning at school, but a notice was sent home to parents about helping their child come up with a costume to wear on the day of the event.

Group Shots:

George Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Michael Jackson

Peyton Manning, Mozart, Betsy Ross, Beatrix Potter and Pocahontas

Sacagawea, Amelia Earhart and Abraham Lincoln

Statue Poses:

Students were encouraged to be creative with poses that could represent their famous people.  Then, they got in place and went into "statue mode."  Some of them were super creative!

Betsy curtsies with her flag nearby

Peyton is in throwing position while Thomas Edison is deep in thought

Sacagawea is on the "lookout" for new land with Lewis & Clark

Abe is "tipping his hat" to visitors as they pass by

I mean...could they be ANY cuter??  I swear, they came up with those poses completely on their own!

In Action

As guests came through, they would press the red button on statues that interested them.  Then, the statue would come to life and teach the visitor about his/her life (read their report that was written in first person).

Abe is telling others how trustworthy he is.

Betsy tells our principal that George Washington wants her to create a flag for the colonies.

Dr. Seuss shares some of the books he wrote.

Princess Diana wowed all of the visitors with her beauty and grace and of stories about helping the poor and sick.

I didn't get a chance to videotape all of my students this year, but I did capture a couple throughout the event.  I hope this gives you an idea of what it was like.  ;)

I'm signing off now so I can put the finishing touches on a few resources for a new Biography Unit that will include everything you need to teach this genre to your students and host your own Living Museum! 

I hope you'll link up to share a couple of things you did this week!