Third Grade Students At Harkham Hillel Waxed Poetic Presidential History

As President Reagan

By Dupé Aleru|March 10, 2011|8:08 a.m.

Wax on or wax off? Well, third grade students at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy decided that they wanted their “wax on” as they pretended to be wax figures of historical presidents at Hillel’s Presidential Wax Museum, held in its lower gym last week.

Thirty-nine third graders dressed as a president they were to represent for this poetic assignment. In addition to acting like wax figures, the students were to wear a sign that holds instructions on how to activate “them” for their peers and family.  

To exemplify, the 40th President, Ronald Reagan’s sign read “touch my jar of jelly beans to hear my story”.  Once a visitor (parents and students) of the museum touched the jelly bean jar, the child portrayed President Reagan by standing up and reciting a speech about Reagan’s life and presidency. When the student was done, he or she would turn back “into wax” until reactivated by another visitor of the museum.

The Presidential Wax Museum, a project that started in Feb., was the conclusion of a month-long book report for students in Mrs. Deborah Littman’s third grade class at Hillel, which focused on project-based individualized child-centered learning, as students were assigned a president to research.

All in all, the “wax figures” are to be commended. “It’s not easy for 8-9 year-olds to sit like wax figures for over 90 minutes while being viewed by their peers. It was a long, but very rewarding and successful day for all of Hillel’s presidents,” said third grade teacher Mrs. Littman.