Historical figures come to life at Georgetown School

There was no chamber of horrors in Georgetown Elementary School's wax museum, but the characters certainly came to life.

Georgetown fifth-graders, who are studying the American Revolution in social studies classes, presented the "Sea of Humanity Wax Museum," featuring prominent Americans from that era.

"All of the fifth-graders have been studying individuals who have made a difference for humanity from the revolutionary era," said teaching assistant Kenneth White. "As part of the unit, they drew names of the historical figure they would re-create."

Students from each class dressed as their figure or drew poster-sized cutouts and delivered a speech about their accomplishments when prompted by visitors to the museum.

Troy Tolentino, 11, said it was difficult to decide which he liked better, researching or acting as his figure, George Washington.

"This whole project was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about the first president," Tolentino said. "I never knew George Washington had superior survival skills until I researched him."

Other grade levels visited the wax museum and pressed a "button" next to each figure to activate the speech. That was Aaliyah Petty's favorite part of the assignment.

"I liked telling everyone that Benedict Arnold was a traitor," she said. "A lot of kids have pressed the button to get me talking about him."

Students visiting the museum used the opportunity to learn note-taking skills as they took notes and answered questions on work sheets, based on information presented by the fifth-graders.