Local Fifth-graders make history come alive at Wax Museum event

MCGREGOR — President Donald Trump was there. So was astronaut Neil Armstrong. Inventor Henry Ford was there, too. So were civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.

They were there … as characters portrayed by MFL MarMac fifth-graders last Thursday, during a Wax Museum exhibit that culminated a two-year study on historic figures.

Fifth-grade teacher Shauna Lange, who oversaw the project, said it began in fourth-grade as the students read books in the “Who Was” series.

“They just really caught on to those ‘Who Was’ books and there’s been a lot of excitement with reading about historical figures,” she said. “I wanted to keep that excitement up in fifth-grade and bring in this historical project.”

Lange said she felt like the Wax Museum would be a good culmination project as the students move from the upper elementary section of the McGregor Center into the middle school wing next year.

“I thought it would be a fun … kind of a social studies graduation,” she said.

All told, the students portrayed nearly 60 different historic figures. Each student dressed in a costume, with some also adding props to display at the Middle School gymnasium. Guests entered the gymnasium with the lights off as the students stood as wax statues. When the lights came on the statues came to life, talking to family and friends who had come to see them.

Read more in the Wednesday, March 7, 2018 edition of The Monona Outlook.