From classic stories, mythologies, history and tales of the galaxy, Darlington School’s third-grade class demonstrated their vast knowledge at the 14th annual wax museum, themed “A Year at a Glance.”
“It is the showpiece for the third grade,” teacher Steve McConnell said Tuesday. “Most grades have a play or musical or something like that. When I first came to Darlington, we decided to do something a little bit different.”
Every year, there is a different theme designed to show the students’ talents and contextualize what they’ve learned.
For this year’s showcase, the students presented information from the seven units they have learned in class. Darlington implemented a new curriculum at the beginning of the year that incorporates different subjects into lessons. It’s aimed at giving students a cohesive understanding of the material.
The units covered classic tales, animal classification, the human body, Ancient Roman civilization and Norse mythology, light and sound and the solar system.
“It allowed them to engage more deeply with the content, and the topics within that unit build teamwork skills at the same time,” the literacy teacher, Jamie Massey, said.
Students were divided into groups and presented their findings with props and costumes to teach the attendees what they had learned.
“The project is student-driven,” McConnell said. “They get to make the decisions. We give them lots of independence and freedom to decide what the facts are going to be, what they’ll put on the board. Everything is teacher-guided, but they have lots of freedom to put their flair on it.”
The student’s presentation continued the theme of collaboration, or cross-curricular teaching, between other subjects. The technology teacher, Leah Lynn, helped students create online graphics and the student art teacher, Jenna Jones, helped with the board designs.
“We want it to be cross-curricular so that it deepens the learning, the love of learning and the understanding,” Massey said.
Since the presentations were on units the third-grade already covered, the students had a lot of their information ready before they were even assigned a unit. All they had to do to prepare was decide what they wanted to focus on and create their presentation.
“We have studied and learned all of this content throughout the year. It made it very real to them,” Massey said. “They weren’t relearning something just to present it. They were presenting what they really had learned throughout the year.”
This year’s event was a hit with the students, staff and parents, Massey and McConnell agreed. The students were excited to work together, unlike in years past when each student presented individually. The parents were excited to see what their students have learned and the work they put into their presentations.
“The kids had a great time, and they were able to share a table; they were able to share props,” McConnell said.
This article was originally published in the Rome News-Tribune on April 30, 2025.
