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The storied Madam Tussaud's Wax Museums have nothing on Amy Conant's fifth grade class. Landmark's Elementary•Middle School faculty member has a reputation for being exceptionally creative in meeting her students needs as people and learners. Recently, she and her six talented students blew the Landmark community away with an interdisciplinary initiative that materialized into a live Amelia Earhart Wax Museum.

Students studied a specific time period in Earhart's life, prepared poster boards with facts, figures, and images and then wrote, rehearsed, and performed an oral presentation describing that chapter in her life. Museum visitors learned a plethora of interesting facts about the airwoman, activist, and trendsetter's life including that she was the sixteenth woman to receive a pilot’s license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the governing body of sports aviation. She was the also the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean; though she was married in 1931 to George Putnam (who proposed to her six time before she agreed), she kept her maiden name; and that she participated in the National Women's Party advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Asked how she came up with such an innovative, interdisciplinary project, Conant said, "Students are my inspiration. Each year I watch for what interests them, assess class dynamics, and value the individual gifts each student brings. This year these elements came together and brought our museum to life."

The three-month long research project engaged students on many levels including active reading and two-column notetaking, vocabulary, enumerative and expository writing, and finally oral expression. 

Elementary•Middle School faculty member, Scott Harlan toured the museum and said, "This uniquely creative, in-depth presentation was brilliant, masterfully showcasing the young students’ astonishing talents. Their hours of preparation and study, their crafting of costumes and storytelling narratives, their extensive memory work, and their in-character acting delivered with aplomb, manifested their lively love for learning. These extraordinary fifth grade girls and their teacher, Ms. Conant are to be commended for their compelling, memorable work, celebrating an American pioneer and visionary Amelia Earhart!"

Anna H., Frannie H., Kaleigh W., Maya K., Penelope S., and Somers K. 

Enjoy this short video with some museum highlights: