History comes to life at Warrenville Elementary School

Feb. 17—History came to life at Warrenville Elementary School on Thursday and no magic tablet was involved.

Over 50 fifth graders participated in the living wax museum that involved them picking a historical figure and dressing up as that person, said Caroline DiDio, fifth-grade English language arts teacher.

"It's a poster project that requires students to write a biography on a famous individual that had an influence on the world," DiDio said. "Students were required to do research, they were required to write a biography and create a poster at school based on that person, design a costume and they are now presenting it in front of their parents and the rest of the community. They had to write a speech on a small card and memorize it."

Some of the historical figures chosen included Albert Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt, Anne Frank, Pope Benedict, Martin Luther King Jr., Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II.

Fifth grader Tyler Martin dressed up as King because of how important he was in history.

"He did a lot of things that changed the world," Martin said of what he learned about MLK during his research.

Nyla Smith said she dressed up as Frederick Douglass because she likes him, looks like him and he has a good history. When working on the project she didn't learn a lot of new information about him because she knew a lot about him already. But she did learn a lot aboutother historical figures .

The event was started years ago by Ann McGhee, a former teacher who has died, but has not been held the past three years due to COVID, DiDio said.

"She (McGhee) created this for our school and she did it for many years before COVID hit," DiDio said. "So this is our first year back and we're really excited about it."

Parent Jonathan Cooks said he wanted to support his son and the other students participating.

"I think it's going pretty good," Cooks said. "Everything looks good, I think all the kids did a good job. I'm impressed."

DiDio said she was really proud of the students and said they all did a great job .

"They're really excited about it, their parents are really excited about it, I think it's a great event," DiDio said. "It really challenges them but they've risen to the challenge and done a fantastic job."