Amelia

If there is one thing Karson LOVES, it's school, especially when a PROJECT is involved. She along with all the 2nd graders were assigned to a historical figure to present in a wax museum today at school. The project assignment came home last Wednesday and she was READY to get to work immediately. Her character was/is Amelia Earhart. I asked her about the character and why she chose her to which she responded that she didn't. All the characters were assigned to different kids, and the she proceeded to tell me EVERYONE'S character (even some in the other 2nd grade classes). Although I was tickled with her character, I wasn't sure how we'd pull off the costume. If I had known about the project a couple of weeks ago, I could've gotten some cheap aviator gear (helmet and goggles) off of Amazon. SO, I knew we'd have to improvise and figure something out. The first big thing on the "to do" list was the tri-fold poster. I told Karson I thought it would be a cool idea to spray paint it gray and make it look like an airplane since the kids were also supposed to have props. I got a can from Dollar General along with some cheap pinwheels to use as propellers. Karson did some painting and I did some--spray paint triggers aren't the easiest to use. Karson's penmanship could use some help--finger spaces and letter height aren't high on her perfectionist list. BUT, this project was/is hers so she did all the writing (sometimes in pencil first). All the kids were asked to answer five questions about their character: (1) What made your character important to American history (2) When was your character born (3) Did anything special happen to your character that affected what they did in life (4) If you could talk to your character, what question would you have for them (5) What was the most interesting thing you learned about your character?

Viola, our finished poster board. We worked on it almost nightly. Last Friday night when the boys were itching to spend the night with Pap and Nana and go see the movie RIO, guess who didn't want to go and said she had homework to do. You guessed it, my Karson. She has loved every minute of this project (secretly, I have too). She and I are so similar, it's scary. I'm glad my daughter is organized, pays attention to detail, wants to stay on task and complete it, perfectly. I think those are wonderful traits to inherit--who cares if we're both a bit neurotic =). At least we can admit it! The costume did present some problems. I knew we didn't have the helmet, goggles, bomber jacket or white scarf which meant we had to figure SOMETHING out. We had brown boots and tight fitting pants (which I believe Amelia often sported). We improvised with the helmet and goggles. I got the hood off her brown Columbia jacket and covered some old goggles with brown foam & hot glue. We still needed a jacket and scarf which meant a trip to Goodwill with my fingers crossed. We scored big and found a green bomber jacket (Candies brand which I believe is nice) and a white scarf of all things. Actually there were a couple of white scarves which surprised me.

The finished Amelia in all her glory.

The wax museum was interesting. I met many different characters from history. Here are a couple of our closest pals (from other 2nd grade classes) with their projects:

Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton and Laura Ingalls Wilder (aka Kaylee, Emma and Elizabeth Ann).
And my sweet Amelia with her class--Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Helen Keller, Abraham Lincoln, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Albert Einstein and Pocahontas.