Students host 3rd annual Black History Month wax museum

VALLEY » Rainbow Elementary School students have been embarking on a research journey focusing on key Black History Month figures that have impacted our way of life today.

The Rainbow Elementary students, in the Coatesville Area School District, found a way to bring those figures to life by creating their own “wax museum.” It is the third annual Black History Month wax museum held at the school in Valley Township.

The students collaborated during their social studies class to gather and organize information about historic African-Americans. As they collected their research, they began to create group presentations that had each student actively engaged in presenting the information creatively and effectively. Each student did their best to transform themselves into the person they researched and studied, and they shared their information to parents, teachers, school administrators and school board members in a “wax museum” presentation.

Fourth-grade teacher Bryan Wise said the project fit with the state’s curriculum standards and it gave the students a chance to practice their public speaking skills. The students were instructed to follow a research report rubric which included the focus, ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence structure and conventions.

School officials said parents, family, friends and community members who were in attendance were impressed with the students paying attention to detail and the amount of time and effort they put into the projects.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Rainbow Elementary School students, in the Coatesville Area School District, perform their own live wax museum as they present research projects based on famous African-Americans who helped to change or make history.