MINETTO – Minetto Elementary School fourth graders were excited to bring historical figures to life with their recent biography projects.
Lessons from both their classroom and the library media center prepared them for their solo research project, which included studying their subject, preparing a biography poster and crafting a character, among other tasks.
With more information learned, the students’ excitement around their historical figure grew.
Jade Scheg said she was thrilled to research Thomas Jefferson, after having recently visited the namesake memorial.
She said the biography project made her delighted to learn more about what, how and why Jefferson accomplished what he did.
A favorite fact she found out was Jefferson thoroughly enjoyed science and math, just as Scheg does.
“If you learn from the past, then you can connect what you do in the future,” she said. “It’s kind of honoring them.”
Classmate Taelon DeGroff was thrilled to research Robert Ripley, he said, because “he resembles me, about how he likes (interesting) stuff and went around the world.” DeGroff compared himself to Ripley because he, too, likes collecting things such as Legos.
Inspiration, creativity and a love of chocolate connected Marissa Sharkey to her subject, Milton Hershey, while Shawn Rowe enjoyed researching one of his idols, Michael Jackson.
Library media specialist Kimberly LeRoy said she led mini-book talks about dozens of historical figures, guided the students on note-taking, taught about trusted online resources and continued the preparation of helping the students to become fully prepared and life ready.
Each year at Minetto Elementary, LeRoy builds on the research process, so students will succeed at both the Oswego Middle School and Oswego High School.
What makes that a successful endeavor, she said, is the collaboration, a she is the expert in the process and the teachers are the experts in the content.
missing or outdated ad config
