Leechburg Area third graders take a walk on the historic side to celebrate 100th day of school
The third grade hallway inside David Leech Elementary School was transformed Friday into a historical photo display project to celebrate the 100th day of school.
The inaugural 100 Day Museum Walk, created by third grade teacher Michelle Grooms, is a black-and-white photo display containing 32 photos taken in various locations in 1923.
All 55 third graders participated Friday by spending time in the hallway, viewing, discussing and writing about the photos.
“I chose to do the museum walk not only because it would be a different way to celebrate the 100th day of school, but also because it would be a fun way to expose students to historical events from 100 years ago,” Grooms said.
Grooms decided to create the visual project outside the classroom to celebrate the 100th day of school while incorporating the English Language Arts curriculum.
The students were not told any details or information about each photo.
“I gave them no information about each picture,” Grooms said.
The facts behind each photo will be revealed to the students Monday.
Each student had to create a written statement and question about an image.
Third grader Alex Jagodrinski was interested in a photo depicting a parade scene in an unknown city.
“I liked this picture because it’s funny looking. I wanted to know where the parade was,” Alex said. “I liked the Museum Walk because we got to write our different opinions about the pictures.”
One of the photos depicts several farm workers in a field, another shows two men in fancy top hats, and an image of an animal pulling a small child in a cart created plenty of content for discussion.
“Some of you said the pictures were weird, creepy — like the one with all of the masks. We’re going to discuss all of these next week and go over what you thought and what your questions were,” Grooms told her class Friday.
Student Carter Gottschalk was fascinated by the photo depicting a crowd of people donning masks.
“They all have funny masks on, and I wanted to know where they were and why were they wearing masks,” Carter said. “I like writing about what we thought about each picture and what our questions were.”
Third grader Abigail Ganss selected a photo of two adults dancing as one of her most interesting photos.
“I wanted to know why they were dancing like this, and where were they?” Abigail said. “I liked the Museum Walk because it showed me about living in 1923.”
“They don’t have a lot of knowledge on the history of this country — at this age,” Grooms said.
Grooms said plans include hosting other photo displays from other decades, such as the 1950s.
David Leech Elementary School Principal David Keibler said the 100 Days project is one example of how the elementary teaching staff thinks outside the box with enhancing student curriculum. The other third grade teachers are Taylor Allen and Jill Sorisio.
“Our teachers expose students to learning opportunities outside of the classroom,” Keibler said. “My building has a team of superstars who maximize our students’ learning through projects like this, in every grade level.”
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com
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