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Post by cathyb on Jan 8, 2016 2:45:22 GMT
DS, 9, 4th grade, has to do a report on an historical person. They had to have made a contribution to society. Disney, Neil Armstrong, Einstein, some major sports figures, are always done. I'm trying to think of someone that isn't quite so well known. DS doesn't seem to care who he picks. They will do a written and oral report on the person and dress like them during the oral report. Any suggestions? DH is pushing for Chuck Yeager.
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Post by gorgeouskid on Jan 8, 2016 2:46:43 GMT
Milton Hershey? That's a fun presentation, and he can hand out kisses.
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Post by bc2ca on Jan 8, 2016 2:48:15 GMT
DS did the same project in 4th grade - he did his report on Bill Gates.
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Post by leftturnonly on Jan 8, 2016 2:50:31 GMT
Yeager would be fantastic!
Also, if you know anything about your family, you might find someone that is fascinating that would meet the requirements and still be someone no one had heard of.
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Post by freecharlie on Jan 8, 2016 2:52:49 GMT
Honestly I'd start with what is your son interested in and then go from there.
How long is the report? How many sources does he need?
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Post by hop2 on Jan 8, 2016 2:57:59 GMT
In 4th grade our kids had to pick a person who came from our state. It added a sort of familiarity to it.
What is your chikd interested in? Can you choose someone who made a difference in an area your child has interests?
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valleyview
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Post by valleyview on Jan 8, 2016 2:58:54 GMT
Chuck Yeager is interesting. Why not him?
Your DS must have some interest that you can tap into. Does he like flight? Favorite sport? If he likes basketball, he could do Naismith, or Wooden. Football - Rockne or Lombardi. Baseball - Jackie Robinson, Peewee Reese, or Babe Ruth. Really, the possibilities are endless. Your son has an assignment, and he needs to focus on what he likes in order to find someone.
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Post by luanne on Jan 8, 2016 3:01:38 GMT
My daughter did Jane Goodall. Other daughter did Howard Carter.
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Post by cathyb on Jan 8, 2016 3:02:26 GMT
We keep asking him and he just says I don'the know. I'm fine with Yeager. DS has a military interest so that would work.
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Post by cmhs on Jan 8, 2016 3:09:09 GMT
My ds was Teddy Roosevelt (3rd grade). My girls were Georgia O'Keefe and Elizabeth Balackwell.
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Post by ntsf on Jan 8, 2016 3:12:09 GMT
louis pastuer... or newton, or lincoln, or eisenhower, washington, or hamilton, carl sagan, fred korematzu (spelling?)--he sued the govt to protest japanese internment. jack london, mark twain, kit carson, etc...
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RosieKat
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Post by RosieKat on Jan 8, 2016 3:16:54 GMT
DD is in 4th grade and was assigned Matthew Henson for a project. She was mad at first but has gotten really interested in him. If you don't know who he was, spoiler below: He is now actually considered to be the first person to have reached the North Pole. He was associated with the Peary expedition, but Peary got the credit because he was the white guy. Henson was actually first, but he was black, so... |
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paigepea
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Post by paigepea on Jan 8, 2016 3:28:26 GMT
In grade 4 my dd did Irena Sendler - she saved jewish children during the holocaust. It was interesting because an American high school class did a project on her and made a movie about it.
So, if she doesn't appeal to your ds, I'd try to find someone who has a documentary or movie made on them as my dd really appreciated learning in that way. There's always Oscar Schindler.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Jan 8, 2016 3:33:29 GMT
We keep asking him and he just says I don'the know. I'm fine with Yeager. DS has a military interest so that would work. Don't ask him who to pick, ask him what area he's interested in - then pick something relevant. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2016 3:38:19 GMT
Audie Murphy
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PaperAngel
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Post by PaperAngel on Jan 8, 2016 3:56:56 GMT
My suggestion for a lesser known, but interesting to children, historical figure is Ralph Baer. Given he's considered the inventor of video games, I'm uncertain whether he contributed positively or negatively to society.  |
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Post by JustKim on Jan 8, 2016 4:02:12 GMT
I thought of Dr. Seuss. The new book was put out this past winter and has interesting information in the back of the book.
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GiantsFan
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Post by GiantsFan on Jan 8, 2016 4:34:15 GMT
Benjamin Franklin. I read his autobiography. Very interesting man for society, but not a good example of a husband or father. :/
But I agree with others. Ask him what interests him, then pick someone from that.
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Post by stampinchick on Jan 8, 2016 4:46:45 GMT
Milton Hershey? That's a fun presentation, and he can hand out kisses. This was my first thought as well. Interesting life story and the kids would relate to the whole Hershey thing.
Second thought was Major Dick Winters.
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Post by kristi on Jan 8, 2016 6:34:20 GMT
My daughter went as Laura Ingalls. Some of the other kids went as: Steve Jobs David Blaine My son went as Steve Fossett (1st solo flight in hot air balloon). His costume was fun  he had a large round balloon that looked like a world map & basket attached. |
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raindancer
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Post by raindancer on Jan 8, 2016 12:37:13 GMT
I homeschool with an interest-led philosophy, so I'd say give the kid a few minutes to research his own interests. Skater? Pick a forerunner of 1980s skating. Space? Look at Apollo missions. Dinosaurs? Who made the most important discoveries? Video games? Research the first inventors. We can give him names, but so could the teacher. It will be a much deeper and more meaningful assignment if you encourage him to choose his own subject. Otherwise, it will just be another mind numbing hollow assignment. There is enough of that in school already. Kudos to his teacher for not giving the kids a list to pick from. I agree with this and I would encourage him to find a woman that has contributed to history. So many are overlooked and forgotten in our history books and social conversation. Find a topic of interest and he will surely find a woman who contributed mightily to the subject.it would do a couple of things, one it will help him see that just because men typically wrote the history doesn't mean they were the only players, two that there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on out there in science, tech, engineering, etc., and it might help his peers recognize these things as well in a more subtle way. |
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Post by jcmom04 on Jan 8, 2016 13:14:07 GMT
This is a school wide project at our elementary for 3rd-5th graders (DS is in 6th this year). The kids pick from American History in 3rd, Texas History in 4th, and World History in 5th. They research their person, write a 1 page paper that becomes a 2-3 minute speech that they memorize, create a poster board, and then dress up as their person. On the day of the event they are placed around the school and stickers are out on their hands and it becomes "A Wax Museum". It's amazing what these kids learn. My son picked a relatively recent person in 4th grade and chose to watch videos of him so he could learn how he spoke and added that to his presentation (Tom Landry). For Albert Einstein he learned that he didn't wear socks, so my son didn't either!
Anyway, he was General Patton, Tom Landry, and Albert Einstein and my dd was in 3rd this year so she was Laura Ingalls Wilder. Other kids have been: Mr. Rogers, Davy Crockett, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth, Elenor Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, and so many I can't even remember!!
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my3freaks
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Post by my3freaks on Jan 8, 2016 14:03:29 GMT
My son did his on Isaac Asimov, and if I remember way back then, he gave out planet stickers (he graduated in 2014), and my daughter did hers on Florence Nightingale. I got chicken noodle soup from Panera and little sample cups for her to pass out.
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Post by just PEAchy on Jan 8, 2016 14:05:39 GMT
My older son did Cesar Chavez, he really wanted to do someone that wasn't well known (to 5th graders). DD did Harriet Tubman and younger son did Benjamin Franklin.
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Post by peano on Jan 8, 2016 14:09:18 GMT
DS was General Douglas MacArthur.
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Post by RiverIsis on Jan 8, 2016 15:26:35 GMT
I homeschool with an interest-led philosophy, so I'd say give the kid a few minutes to research his own interests. Skater? Pick a forerunner of 1980s skating. Space? Look at Apollo missions. Dinosaurs? Who made the most important discoveries? Video games? Research the first inventors. We can give him names, but so could the teacher. It will be a much deeper and more meaningful assignment if you encourage him to choose his own subject. Otherwise, it will just be another mind numbing hollow assignment. There is enough of that in school already. Kudos to his teacher for not giving the kids a list to pick from. I agree with this and I would encourage him to find a woman that has contributed to history. So many are overlooked and forgotten in our history books and social conversation. Find a topic of interest and he will surely find a woman who contributed mightily to the subject.it would do a couple of things, one it will help him see that just because men typically wrote the history doesn't mean they were the only players, two that there is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on out there in science, tech, engineering, etc., and it might help his peers recognize these things as well in a more subtle way.  I was going to suggest Kate Gleeson (1st US female engineer and only one to have a college named after her) but I agree that it needs to be something he is interested in. |
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Jan 8, 2016 15:27:41 GMT
My daughter did Shirley Temple Black.. but as Shirley Temple.. she was appalled she was a Republican. They are doing something similar but they have to do a visual representation of the person. She is doing Michael DePrince, she is a ballerina from Sierra Leone who was adopted. Her story is pretty amazing. My daughter is making a life size cut out of her doing a ballet jump (Flying High like the title of her biography) with her leotard made out of a map of her journey from Sierra Leone to Philadelphia to Amsterdam. Then she is writing her "story" on her arms and legs... her drawing of what she wants to make it look like is very cool. We will see how it plays out this weekend. |
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Post by birdy on Jan 8, 2016 15:31:02 GMT
I didn't read all the responses, but I remember doing this report when I was in 4th and my DS did in 4th as well.
I was Martha Washington and passed out a penny with my husband George's picture on it. Maybe he could be George W.?
DS was Earle Dickson, the inventor of band-aids. He had a lot of fun researching that!
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jan 8, 2016 15:31:56 GMT
I don't know some of the names, but...
Inventor of the steam engine? (for its contribution to the industrial revolution)
Henry Ford? (assembly line manufacturing)
Andrew Carnegie? (he was a businessman and philanthropist, and founded 'Carnegie libraries' in small towns all over the United States in the early 20th century)
Inventor of the sewing machine?
Inventor of the telephone?
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Post by kellybelly77 on Jan 8, 2016 15:32:26 GMT
My girls have picked Christopher Columbus, Danica Patrick and then my older daughter also did a report on Samuel Adams recently.
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he had a large round balloon that looked like a world map & basket attached. 
I was going to suggest Kate Gleeson (1st US female engineer and only one to have a college named after her) but I agree that it needs to be something he is interested in. 
