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A Walk Through History: Fourth Grade Presents Wax Museum

Jeremiah 29:11
In this verse, God assures His people of His good and purposeful plans for their lives. It reminds us that our accomplishments are intricately woven into His greater plan, filled with hope and a future that He has designed specifically for us.

This past Friday, the Welcome Center was filled with fourth grade students dressed as queens, baseball players, heroes of war, famous actresses, and everyone in between. The annual Living Wax Museum event, which has been a tradition for more than 20 years at PCA, was in full swing. 

Each year students choose a person in history who made an impact on society, to bring back to life for the day. They read a biography on the person, create a detailed tri-fold board showing facts about their person's life, and then present their findings to their class. After that, the fun really begins as students bring their research to life dressing up as their historical figure and presenting their work to PCA students, staff, and parents by way of the Living Wax Museum. Students had to hold very still, like a person made of wax, as visitors walked by to take in their displays and learn more about each person. 

Anna Turner, who portrayed Florence Nightingale said “I enjoyed when people buzzed by and I started talking about who I was, kind of like performing.”

Kara McKenzie Hoffman said Anneli Drummond-Hay inspired her because she loves horses and animals.

Declan Goulette, who was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, talked about his successful career very enthusiastically.

Isaac Cox was pleased to present John Madden’s achievements as a great coach and player, and sports commentator. 

4th Grade Teacher Mrs. Charity Light says this is such a wonderful, in-depth learning experience for the students. “The living wax museum was a way for fourth grade students to learn about historical figures and their contribution to society. Students were responsible for reading a biography on their chosen historical figure, filling out notes, writing an informative summary, and presenting a speech to their peers.” 

Students did an exemplary job at presenting their figures at the 2024 Living Wax Museum! 

Exploring Latin American Culture In Lower School Spanish Classes

Buenos dias! The lower school classes have been embracing new experiences during Spanish class - sampling foods from Latin America like yucca, plantains, horchata, nopal, and choclo. Spanish Teacher Tonya Whitehead said students recently sampled agua de jamaica, aka hibiscus tea. She says she did not get a unanimous "love it!". Tally marks from their vote showed three students saying they loved it, 2 who liked it, and 7 who said, no gracias. 

Over the past few weeks, Mrs. Whitehead and her classes have been talking about the importance of spreading God's love by learning to communicate with our hispanic neighbors. Many classes learned the merengue dance and sang traditional songs from Latin America. Their favorite music was Huapango de Jose Pablo de Moncayo. 

Overall, students embraced this learning experience and all that they discovered about Latin American culture. Henry Van Roekel says he "really enjoyed drinking tea!" Ellie Jeter says she "enjoyed the dancing moves and steps", while Campbell Alford added that it was great "learning about kindness and encouragement to help others who are from different backgrounds." Ethan Williams weighed in on the interesting snacks, saying "Yucca has a really different texture and shape."

Learning Spanish as a second language is a valuable opportunity for our lower school students as they are also exposed to new cultural practices, influencing how people think, act and what things they care about in their lives. Some studies suggest that learning a second language can even boost cognitive function such as memory, mental clarity and concentration.