American Presidents Grant Winner

Team leader Luana Lewis and team members Denise Carter and Brenda Griffith of Jefferson Elementary School in El Dorado, KS engaged their fifth grade students in an in-depth study of presidents. As part of the activity, the students researched a chosen president and participated in a "wax museum" performance. The team will use the American Presidents video grant as a resource for this project next year. C-SPAN is provided to their school by Multimedia Cablevision.

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Overview "Our students conduct an in-depth study of our presidents and first ladies to help meet our fifth grade social studies and library/media goals. Each student writes a research paper on the life of a president and first lady. After the report is completed, the students create a speech, dress as their subjects, and perform in a presidential wax museum for our school and community to visit." - Luana Lewis

	Step One: "First, students draw the name of a president and first lady from a hat. The students receive lessons in note taking, bibliographies, keyboarding and paper writing. Then, they conduct research using a variety of sources including books, periodicals, CD ROMs, videotapes and the Internet."
	Step Two: "Next, students write a research paper complete with note cards, bibliography, and title page, and type it on school computers."
	Step Three: "Once they have completed this part of the project, they write at two-minute speech in first person with details about their subject's life. Students then perform these speeches as their subjects."