What is a name? Preparing a new school to open involves many things, one of which includes a name. This can open the opportunity to learn about local history, local historical figures and how the naming process works. Knowing this, a few couple of teachers teamed up to create a project where 4th and 5th grade students were tasked with this job. Why was Elaine Thompson selected for our school? 

How can we be better learners and leaders while carrying on their legacy?

During the school's first year, a group of students spent quite a bit of time locating the answer. Spending time with a variety of groups of people to learn about Ms. Thompson's life and how it connects to our Tiger Shark values has instilled a love of learning. 

Community members that assisted this learning:

Thomas Balch Library-Alexandra Grisset and Laura Christenson organized primary resources gifted to the library from the Thompson family. Our students took a field trip in the early part of the research where they set out 6 tables with different resources, which were family photos, articles, invitations and legal documents. Students learned to cyphen out the information with guiding questions prepared prior to the trip. 

Newspaper Researcher Julie Tate joined our class several times where she taught the students how to view primary resources using a guiding question as their starting point. When it came time to interview family and friends, she collaborated with the students to pinpoint what they wanted to learn by creating open-ended questions that led to these discoveries. 

3D Herndon JR Bontrager taught our students how to use Tinkercad, which is a program where students design items to be printed 3D. The end result was a box that mimicked  Joseph Trammell's tin box which held his freedom papers. The original box can be viewed at the African American Museum in Washington, DC. 

The end result of this work was a student interactive museum where our 4th and 5th grade students developed and delivered. They each focused on one attribute of our Tiger Shark values and created an exhibit that shared information as well as had a compononet that included conversation and engagement. 

Interviewing Family and and Friends

Receiving first-hand knowledge from those that knew Ms. Thompson was best critical in presenting this project to the best of its ability. Our students were tasked with creating questions that would be asked of each of the interviews listed below. To do so they first brainstormed a list of what they wanted to know. Next, we pulled in a professional reporter who worked with the students to fine turn their questions. As you listen below, you will hear 6 people speak with vulnerability and passion as they teach us about their friend and family member, Elaine E. Thompson.