Illinois History Comes Alive!

This year our fourth graders took a step back in time to make history come alive. As part of our study of the history of Illinois, we began by researching the life of Abraham Lincoln. Together at school we researched and wrote reports in the first person point of view about Lincoln. We even had a visit from Mr. Lincoln himself! As we learned about writing research reports through our study of Abraham Lincoln, each student picked a different famous person from Illinois. Students then researched and wrote reports on “their” famous person. When the reports were complete, students took the most important information and wrote speeches to be presented to each other at the Fourth Grade Learning Fair on the evening of Tuesday, March 16th. Each student became a famous Illinoisan, not only by speaking to everyone to share the highlights of that person’s life as if s/he is alive and well in Lisle, but also by dressing as that person would have dressed. By the end of the evening students had “met” several famous historical figures from Illinois. The students enjoyed this rewarding learning experience.