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Notable American Study Culminating with Second Grade Wax Museum at Mustard Seed School in Hoboken, NJ

Hoboken, NJ (PRWEB) May 6, 2005

Some baseball fans think of me as “the greatest player who ever lived.” I’m Roberto Clemente. I was born in 1934 in Puerto Rico where I learned to play baseball by hitting empty soup cans with a tree branch. I was invited to play in the major leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates. My team was in last place, but I worked hard to help my team make it all the way to the World Series where we beat the mighty New York Yankees! I played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 years. I died in a plane crash in 1972 while trying to get food and supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua. Before I died, I helped build a sports complex in Puerto Rico for poor children. I am remembered for saying, “Anytime you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.”

When you step into the Mustard Seed School Community Room on this day, you will hear the recordings of second graders like this one, Juan Arenas. As they move purposefully with props and costume in hand, these students will give you a vibrant sense of what they have discovered about their notable American over the past six weeks.

Stacks of biographies were presented to these students, each with a story about someone who has impacted our country in some way. Students walked through several curriculum steps to understand the value of their personÂ’s contribution; research and the creation and use of projects helped them process the life of an individual by dramatizing and writing the words, thoughts, and actions of their notable American.

After delving into the history of his notable American, Josiah Ng has quite a bit to say about his discoveries as he preps for the Wax Museum by speaking in the first person . . . “Buzz Aldrin was my friend and he’s still alive. I logged in 216 hours and 16 minutes in space,” says Josiah who will be Alan Shephard, the first American astronaut to go into space. Josiah, along with the rest of his classmates, has been working in the Shared Space to create projects from their study. “I finished a sculpture showing Alan Shephard hitting two golf balls into space and they are still orbiting,” said Josiah. Students will use paint, wood, clay and 3-D materials to show what they are learning.

According to second grade teacher Jenn Monroe-Groff, “The children have a lot of energy for this project. They choose to study a person that they identify with or admire. Not only do we learn about people who have made significant contributions to our country, but also we learn about people with incredible character. It is a blessing to learn the stories of these notable Americans who have shown courage, determination, and kindness.”

At the conclusion of the Museum, visitors may interview notable Americans and peruse beautifully written published books and puppets that are displayed on nearby shelves. While Kindergarteners and First Graders will observe with curiosity, possibly daydreaming who they might be when it is their turn, older students may look on with nostalgia, recognizing someone they portrayed as a second grader or just remembering the experience. Either way, students, teachers, and visitors might ask these notable Americans one of these questions: Why did you choose this person to study? What were some important moments in your life? Why are you notable?

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Tags: American, Culminating, Grade, Hoboken, Museum, Mustard, Notable, School, Second, Seed, Study

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