Wax Museum Biographies!

I have been wanting to share our wax museum biographies with you all for a while now. This is by far the BEST activity I have ever done with my students. I got the great idea from One Extra Degree. I absolutely love Amanda's blog. It is full of great ideas and she has tons of great products in her TpT store. Amanda did not ask me to write this review, I just truly think this is the best idea ever! You can click on the picture below to pick up the unit at TpT. 

This unit is packed with great resources and everything you need to create a wax museum. I started by having the students pick a famous American hero. We used the cards that were included in the packet and the students drew a card randomly. I did it this way so that the students could learn about someone new. We then spent a lot of time in the computer lab researching our American heroes. The packet includes a great note taking page that really helped the students lay out their notes, which they turned into a speech. 

Once we finished all of our research, we took our notes and turned it into a speech. I had the students create a speech that was no more than a minute long and focused on the most important parts of their hero's life. The students then spent a couple of days practicing their speeches with their peers. At home, the students worked on coming up with a costume that would turn them into their American hero.

On the day of our Wax Museum, we invited parents and the rest of the school to tour the museum. We had a GREAT turn out. Our visitor's came and pushed the "on" buttons of the famous Americans, and then the students came to life and performed their speeches. 

My students really got into being a wax statue. They did not move until their button was pushed! We received great feedback from all of the parents and other students that came to our museum. My students had a great time being statues and were completely exhausted by the time it was over. 

The students really learned a lot through this project and had a great time completing it. It was also a great way to get parents into the school!

Below are a few pictures of our famous American heroes. Let's see if you can guess who they are!