Schools

Famous Characters Brought to Life

Third-graders at Primrose Hill School bring books about famous historical characters to life at annual Biography Book Fair.

Famous historical characters filled the cafeteria at Primrose Hill School this morning.

Well, as you might have guessed, the characters actually were costumed third-graders participating in the school's annual Biography Book Fair – where history and books came alive for about an hour.

The third-graders had to pick a famous character – such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Florence Nightingale, Claude Monet, William Henry Harrison, Harry Houdini, Queen Elizabeth, Amelia Earhart, Anne Frank, Muhammad Ali, and many more – and then do research, create a book report, and dress up as them.

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Most of the third-graders seemed well-prepared to discuss their research and play the roles of historical interpreters.

Take Jason Anderson, for instance. His famous character, William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, was, perhaps, not as famous as many others. But he certainly meant something to Jason.

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“I picked him because he is related to me on my grandma’s side of the family,” he said. “He gave great speeches and he was in a lot of great battles, too.”

Matthew Sangiuliano picked George Washington “because I wanted to do the first President.”

Hope Eisenstein and Laila Alssid shared Anne Frank, the Dutch girl made famous by the diary she kept while in the Nazi-occupied country during World War II.

“We picked her because we’re both Jews,” said Hope. “And her life was so interesting. Do you know she died at 15?”

Chloe Motte picked Florence Nightingale “because my aunt was a nurse.” And she was “very brave to go into war,” Chloe said of her character.

Patrick Cauley chose famed magician and entertainer Harry Houdini.

“He’s really cool,” Patrick said. “And I like magic.”

Ryan Rodrigues selected renowned French impressionist painter Claude Monet “because I like to paint.”

“Do you know that Albert Einstein was a very poor student in school?” said Tim Correia, wearing a white, puffy wig that told parents, teachers and other students around him that he definitely was Einstein.

“He was kicked out. I don’t think he found another school,” Tim said. “But he was a world traveler. He was born in Germany, moved to Switzerland and then moved to the U.S. where he became a citizen.”

A timeline on a poster traced Einstein’s life.


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