Third grade living museum brings memorable figures to life
by Kyleen Shyer, third grade teacher
Unit on nonfiction reading and writing culminated with students in character as notable and infamous history makers.
Where at USN can you go to see and learn about people like Nelson Mandela, George Washington, Princess Diana, and Amelia Earhart? The Living Museum as presented by third graders.
On Tuesday, April 10, the third grade celebrated the culmination of its nonfiction reading and writing units focused on biographies by presenting a Living Museum. Students chose a person about whom they wanted to learn more. Over the course of two months, students worked on skills including research, note-taking, and organizing information in order to put together many different pieces that ultimately became their museum exhibit.
As visitors entered the museum, they noticed many statues of famous men and women from the past and present. Each individual exhibit included original artwork, written information about the person, and a short video written, recorded, and edited by the student. If visitors felt intrigued to learn more, they could push the start button at the exhibit and the statue would come to life. Students wrote a short speech focusing on a meaningful moment in the life of their chosen person and recited it to museum guests from the first person perspective of their character.
The learning experience for each student was rigorous as a whole, but students rose to the challenge with a growth mindset and determination. Some school days were spent truly immersed in the project as it went across a variety of curricular areas. As a result, the first Living Museum was a huge success as evidenced by written feedback submitted by museum-goers. We look forward to the second Living Museum next year.
Aliza Ahmed '26, Uma Ehrig '26, Victor Peng '26, Ruchika Ramachandran '27, and Yvonne Wang '27 participated in the Asian Educators Alliance conference this year in Atlanta, Georgia.
Anna Brook '30, Claire Yu '30, Clio Cherry-Pulay '29, and Liam Mooney '28 took him the championship during the 4th annual USN Middle School Quiz Bowl Championships. Two teams will travel to Chicago to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments Middle School National Championships on Saturday, May 10.
Cpl. Robert Gibson joined University School of Nashville in November as a School Resource Officer, a certified police officer who is primarily assigned to a school and provides safety and security-related functions, including emergency response, safety training, traffic direction, and patrol functions.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.