On Thursday, March 7, Fair Grove Elementary’s third graders participated in the Impactful Missourian Walk of Fame where they researched famous Missourians, created presentations, and dressed up as their figure.
Third grade teacher, Dani Kepler, stated, “Our Impactful Missourian Walk of Fame Presentations are the final step in a very comprehensive project for our third graders. They choose a Missourian to learn and research about, which is usually a historic Missourian.”
Throughout the year, the third grade social studies curriculum is based around Missouri history. Kepler explained, “Third grade social studies content is all about our state of Missouri. As a part of that, they learn about historical and current Missourians that have had a big impact on our world.” These Missourians have not only impacted history, but are impacting the third grade students as well.
Third grader, Lily McKeever, portrayed Ella Ewing, who was an 8 foot 4 inches tall sideshow performer. McKeever said, “Learning about her taught me to not be afraid of what you look like and to be yourself.”
Another third grader, Allie Crandall, based her presentation on Mary Jane Guthrie. Guthrie was a professor and researcher of zoology at the University of Missouri. From her presentation Crandall learned that women can do whatever they want. She said, “I was excited to say my speech and show the people who I am presenting to about my famous Missourian’s life.”
Gavin Dukes (3) portrayed Disney’s creator, Walt Disney. Dukes chose Disney because he was a fan of his movies. Dukes stated, “I learned that Walt Disney had a lot of bumps and problems in his life which taught me to keep moving forward even if things go wrong.”
These students, and many others, worked hard on their projects. In the time leading up to their presentation day, they put together poster boards, research, and speeches for their projects. Kepler described, “They practice note-taking, paraphrasing and quoting sources. Our students write biographies, and then speeches for their presentation. They also create a poster board to highlight their learning and to help in their presentations.”
On the day of their presentations, students bring in props and dress as their chosen Missourian. Kepler said, “The project really comes to life, quite literally, when our kids get to dress up as the Missourian they researched, along with bringing in props, and present a speech in a first person point of view.”
This project is not only enjoyable for the third graders, but also their peers and community members. Throughout the day, all of the elementary students, the third graders family, and community members got to experience the Impactful Missourian Walk of Fame.
