Illinois History Comes Alive!
This year our fourth graders took a step back in time to make history come alive. As part of our study of the history of Illinois, we began by researching the life of Abraham Lincoln. Together at school we researched and wrote reports in the first person point of view about Lincoln. Thanks to the support of the HSO, we even had a visit from Mr. Lincoln himself! (Lincoln was portrayed by Fritz Klein of the Lincoln Institute for Education.) As we learned about writing research reports through our study of Abraham Lincoln, each student picked a different famous person from Illinois. Students then researched and wrote reports on “their” famous person. When the reports were complete, students took the most important information and wrote speeches to be presented to each other at the Fourth Grade Learning Fair/ Music Program on the evening of Tuesday, March 20th. Each student “became” the famous Illinoisan by dressing as that person would have dressed as the speech was presented to classmates and parents. By the end of the evening students had “met” several famous historical figures from Illinois. After the speeches, the students moved to the gym to perform a music program for their parents. The songs included Native American Songs, Illinois Folk Songs, and original songs written by Schiesher students about the history, people, and places of Illinois. Students enjoyed this rewarding learning experience.
