Presidents come alive at Carol Stream school

Some of the most influential people in American history were brought back to life in the Library Learning Center of Community Consolidated School District 93's Carol Stream Elementary School as Allison Showalter's and Amy Jerabek's fifth-grade classes hosted a Living Museum. The museum featured presidents beginning with the Revolutionary War through the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Students completed research papers on the president of their choice and created speeches from his perspective, describing his personal life and major accomplishments. On the day of the museum, each fifth-grader dressed as his or her president, brought along a prop representative of him in some way, and staked out a spot in the library. He or she stood frozen in a pose and waited silently for one of the many student, staff, or community visitors to activate the speaker by lightly tapping him or her on the shoulder. Once tapped, the speaker recited the speech and froze again upon its conclusion.

“Would you believe people around my neighborhood called me ‘Useless' instead of Ulysses?” asked Keith Chafer, wearing a Union Army uniform and holding an American flag as Ulysses S. Grant. “I made General Robert E. Lee surrender to me at Appomattox, and I served two terms as president.”

Whether it was a student dressed as Thomas Jefferson clutching a copy of the Constitution, or Theodore Roosevelt riding a stick horse, these students came prepared to show off their knowledge of their president.