Living Biographies Highlights

I want to thank you, parents, for all of your terrific support for our Living Biographies, which were a tremendous success! The children really got into character and seem to be transformed, not only in their appearance, but also in their speech, attitude, and overall personality. I was very impressed to see the lengths to which some of you went to make their costumes so realistic, so thank you for that. I think it meant a great deal to the children, as well, who came away very inspired by the whole activity.

One part of our day included mixing with 7-8 children from Ms. Olivia's class and 7-8 from Ms. Connor's class to play a "Living Bingo." This was a unique way to see if the students really knew their subjects and could answer a few questions about him/her. It was a treat to see the classes interact so well and share their knowledge with others.

In general, their presentations were very well done and most everyone received a 3 or 4. I was also amazed to hear some of the class' questions, which were high-level and inferential. These were a few of my favorite:

• To Poncho Villa (Andre):

• Question: "What motivated you to steal from the poor to give to the rich?" 
• Response: "I wanted to make everyone equal and have less suffering." 

• To Abraham Lincoln (Ali): 
• Question: "If you were sucked into The Tale of Despereaux, would you have adopted Mig?" 
• Response: "Yes, definitely." 

• To Mother Teresa (Lehar): 
• Question: "What made you angry?"
• Response: "When people don't treat others as equals." 

• To Frida (Kiek): 
• Question: "How would you respond if you saw a woman injured and lying in the street?" 
• Response: "I wouldn't be out in the street walking because I was always at home with my own suffering." 

I loved to see such great thinking occurring. It was very inspiring!

I hope you will enjoy these pictures of this fun learning experience and thank you, again, for your tremendous support!