Monfort Elementary Students Transform Into Historians

The fourth graders at School built a personal museum to remind students of the future about the past.

The social scientists conducted research and prepared an “All About Me” museum, focusing on each discipline within the social studies curriculum.

When looking at their lives through the lens of a historian, the students decided they needed to gather artifacts from their lifetime to allow people to learn about their history.  They selected four pictures that celebrated special moments in their past and made a timeline that captured six monumental events in their lives. 

As a geographer, each social scientist made a booklet featuring a collection of maps. They began by locating their homes on Google Maps or Map Quest.  They also zoomed out to locate both their city and county.  Additionally, they included their state, country, continent, hemisphere and world.

While viewing their lives from a political scientist’s lens, they were inspired by their country’s symbol - the American Flag -- that glorious banner that is a promise for our future and a reminder of our past.  Fourth graders begin each day pledging their allegiance to the flag. Therefore, they decided to re-write their own versions of The Pledge of Allegiance.  Their renditions were most impressive.

Finally, the students looked through the lens of an economist and learned about wants and needs. Each economist was given an allotment of $250,000.00 to spend within one week.  The economist’s task was to purchase things such as shelter, food, clothing and anything else needed to survive.  As the economists made purchases, they were required to keep track of the amount spent on the Wants and Needs Financial Planner. 

 Written by Utica Community Schools Representative Tim McAvoy.