Local

Area students learn history can come to life in the classroom

By SHERRY KITTS, Staff Writer

Jan. 23, 2002 - Area students have been traveling back in time, taking on roles as Egyptian reporters and English colonists.

It’s all part of making history fun at East Lincoln Middle and the east campus of Lincoln Charter School.

Last week Jodi Graham’s East Middle seventh-graders learned about ancient Egypt by creating, writing, and editing their own newspapers.

“This is the first year we have done this,” Graham said of the assignment intended to help students learn about economics and government and their development.

Students were assigned the job of creating a newspaper, complete with articles, advertisements, obituaries, and announcements all centered on ancient Egypt.

The junior reporters researched the history of the civilization and wrote stories about actual events as well.

Students say they enjoyed working as the editor and reporters on their own newspapers and learned a great deal.

“It was a lot of fun,” Sarah Webb said. “I learned their money was camels.”

“I learned a lot,” Trey Hayes said.

Many of the students were very inventive and creative with the design of their newspapers.

Hayes made his newspaper look authentic by using tan paper rolled into a scroll, hieroglyphics and pictures.

And students named their papers.

“I named my paper Egyptian Times-News, because of the local newspaper,” Hayes said.

While one school was studying Egyptian life, another was learning about the birth of a nation.

Third-graders at Lincoln Charter School’s east campus have been learning about the English colonies.

Some students in Judy LaBor’s third grade class dressed as colonists to give their presentations and reports to the class.

Nine-year-old student Hannah Byars wore a blue and white colonial costume made by her grandmother just for the presentation.

Bonny Lauro and Britteny Sawyer dressed their dolls up in period costumes to give their report on Delaware.

Learning about the early settlements is part of the curriculum, LaBor says.

“The students did research on each of the colonies,” LaBor said. “The children needed to know the beginnings, who founded it and important facts on the colonies.”

The children made a variety of projects that included shadow boxes, posters, and artwork.

Each student was assigned a colony to research and report on, and took turns giving a report in front of the class.

LaBor said she was impressed by the work of her third-graders.

“The students did a good job,” she said.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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