Mars Elementary School hosts presidents wax museum
ADAMS TWP — While the rest of the world waited anxiously for the results of Tuesday’s presidential election, Nov. 5, Mars Elementary School’s third-graders celebrated past presidents and first ladies.
Two teachers at the school, Jennifer McClelland and Tylor Takacs, invited parents and students from other grades to the third grade’s wax museum of our country’s past presidents and first ladies.
McClelland has held the third-grade wax museum for the past 21 years. She said that it normally is held in February, on Presidents Day. But she and Takacs decided to do it on Nov. 5 this year to align with the presidential election.
“We give them a template to fill out, we kind of just keep them on track, but what we do is we put the names of all the presidents and first ladies in a hat and let them pick from it. They then do all the research and they write their own speeches,” McClelland said.
The third-graders put extra detail into their outfits. The clothes ranged from a colonial-era outfit of George Washington to a slick gray suit and American flag pin of George W. Bush. Other notable outfits included one student who donned a full beard and extra-tall hat as Abraham Lincoln.
As the parents went around the cafeteria and clicked on a red “button” on the students hands, the third-graders began reciting prepared speeches for their character.
The third-graders had a wide slate of facts prepared for their speeches. Facts included information such as Lincoln being born in Kentucky and Thomas Jefferson being responsible for the Louisiana Purchase.
However, there were plenty of lesser-known facts shared to the parents, such as that James Madison went to college in New Jersey, Betty Ford was trained in ballet and tap-dancing, and that Jackie Kennedy was a journalist in her early career.
“It’s such a great curriculum activity too. It hits on so many aspects of our curriculum that it works really well too,” McClelland said.
While the faculty invites the parents to come in and check out the work the students have done, “seeing the kids dressed up, and seeing them be proud of themselves,” for being able to write their own speech and present their president or first lady is a big reason for doing this every year.
“The parents absolutely enjoy it. The kids enjoy it, too. They get nervous, but I think they’re proud of their work,” Takacs said.
It’s also one of the funner activities that the students get to do while at Mars Elementary School, with the teachers adding that having memorable moments in their curriculum, and having fun, helps the students learn and remember the class content.
“Some of my fourth-graders that did this last year were excited when I told them they were coming down to check out the presidents. This is something they always remember,” Takacs said.
