Student Choice at Center of Creekside Character Museum

At Creekside ECS, a favorite second grade tradition is about more than tackling required state reading standards. The second grade team’s “Character Museum” project allows students to see their favorite book characters come to life and gives them choice in their learning. 

“Some students might not enjoy reading, but they really light up with art,” teacher Julie Kellerman said. “This gives them an opportunity to show their confidence and still grasp the concept.” 

The project culminated in all 10 of Creekside’s second grade classrooms simultaneously opening up their “museum” doors for all their peers to visit. The museum put on display personified pumpkins, hand-sewn characters, paintings, drawings and even unique works of art made from traditional household items. Each was designed to convey both the physical and more abstract traits of their chosen character, one of the second grade reading standards. 

“What I appreciate most about the project is the student choice,” said teacher Stephanie Allan. “No matter the reading level, the children were super excited to get to deeply know a character near and dear to their hearts.”  

Student choice is one of the pillars of Lakota’s commitment to personalized learning, giving students the flexibility to choose how they show their mastery of a concept. Allan described her classroom as “roaring with excitement” the day they introduced their character to the class. “We all know the passion that shines through when they are sharing something they are most passionate about,” Allan said. 

Point in case, second-graders Veronica Dlesk and Hazel Hodgson were beaming with excitement as they described the inspiration for their projects and shared love of crafting. One transformed a pumpkin into her favorite “Nibbles” character, while the other painted a poster of Karen from her favorite “Baby-Sitters Little Sisters” series.

Teacher Jennifer Mueller also pointed out that the team decided to incorporate technology into this year’s lesson for the first time. Overlapping with the skills they are learning in their technology special, students used OneLogin and Google slides to build a story web of their character to display alongside their homemade craft. 

Teachers Elizabeth Waldfogel and Jenni Muia said that one constant over the 10 years of the project has been the parent engagement aspect. “The project connects home to school by having the students create the representation of their character at home with a family member,” Waldfogel said. “We’ve had so many comments over the years about how much the families have enjoyed it!” added Muia. 

The time and effort shone through in the quality of the finished products, but the true win for Muia was the evidence that her students truly grasped the concept of characterization, “not just on the surface but much deeper.” 

“When they say, ‘Henry was persistent when he was searching for Mudge,’ you know they understand the skill. I also love that kids continue to use character traits every day in conversations,” Muia said.