Where do you find Jane Goodall, Neil Armstrong and Milton Hershey under one roof? At RPRY’s Wax Museum, of course! Emily Menasha’s third grade students each researched a historical figure, dressed up as them in costume and created a “museum” visited by students and parents. Each student had a booth containing information about his or her figure, and if visitors picked up an object in the booth, the student “came alive” in character to describe the life and accomplishments of the person. The Wax Museum was the culmination of all the students’ research and preparation. They each read books on their character, wrote a report, created paper doll miniatures of the figure, and practiced their public speaking skills in preparation for addressing museum visitors about their biography.

Sally S., who profiled Jane Goodall, said her favorite part of the whole project was capping it off at the Wax Museum. Boaz K., shared that it was interesting to see each classmate come to life and impersonated their character, and see what poses they chose to take while “frozen.” Tzvi M. impersonated Derek Jeter. A fan of playing baseball himself, he enjoyed learning about the many home runs Jeter hit in his career. The third graders and visitors alike learned from this multidimensional, interactive project!