Bullitt Co. elementary's "living history museum" features the usual - Lincoln, Ali - and other Kentuckians of today and yore perhaps not so well known
Pioneer-News, Shepherdsville, Feb. 23, 2017
Roby students learn to appreciate state’s past
By Stephen Thomas
Roby Elementary students have a better appreciation for what it means to be a Kentuckian.
Fourth graders participated in a Living History Museum consisting of figures associated with the Commonwealth.
“We developed our history museum as a way to tie together research writing and Kentucky history, which is the focus for fourth grade Social Studies, as well as technology, speaking and listening standards,” said teacher Emily Forgey.
The teachers pre-selected a list of influential Kentuckians, placing images on classroom walls.
“We asked students to choose a picture without knowing anything at all about the person,” Forgey said.
Students attempted to predict the reason each person was famous. Many of the figures were selected by students for portrayal.
“After viewing our selection we had some students come up and let us know that they had researched other famous Kentuckians at home with their parents,” Forgey said. “That’s how we added Diane Crump, the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby.”
Autumn Simcoe, the student portraying Crump, wore a jockey’s helmet made from a basket.
“(Crump) had 228 wins, and she’s still living,” Simcoe told museum visitors.
Students Derick Quiroa and Connor Brown both selected esteemed genetics scientist and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Hunt Morgan.
“I chose him because he’s a smart person, he’s a professor, and I like science a lot,” Quiroa said.
“He researched bugs, and I like bugs,” said Brown.
Many of the students portrayed the more popular historical Kentucky characters, including three Daniel Boones and two Rebecca Boones. Student Cailee Fleming, portraying Rebecca, mentioned that she shared a common ancestor.
While some students portrayed Abraham Lincoln, student Joshua Hicks selected vice-president Alben Barkley.
“I picked somebody that looked like me,” Hicks admitted. “He was our 35th vice-president, and later he was the oldest member in Congress.”
Next to Hicks was student Dylan Clardy, portraying sculptor Edward Norton Hamilton Jr., who created a statue of Lincoln at Waterfront Park in Louisville as well as “The Spirit of Freedom” statue, honoring African-American Civil War soldiers at the African-American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, DC.
Other recent celebrity portrayals included four students as actor Johnny Depp. Student Tyler Goode portrayed one of Depp’s most famous movie characters, Edward Scissorhands.
“He’s famous,” said student Olivia Mudd, the only girl in the Depp group. “Me and my Mom like him, I like his movies.”
Some of the other multiple-appearance characters included Col. Harland Sanders, Muhammad Ali and Diane Sawyer.
“To research their characters, students used a Symbaloo page that linked them to a reliable source,” Forgey said. “They collaborated with out librarian, Emily Hunt, who also taught them how to create a Google slideshow.”
Each portrayal included character birthdates, childhood information, personal life obstacles, notable achievements, and date of death unless still living.
“We asked students to user their creativity to come up with a costume that resembled their Kentuckian and to be ready to present their speech when people came to their area,” Forgey said.
Parents and students from other classrooms were invited to attend the museum and hear the stories of the famous Kentuckians.