Bessie Coleman

Boo successfully completed her first research project for school this past week for Black History Month!  Each student got to choose a famous person, research them, and then create a presentation to share with the class.

Boo picked Bessie Coleman.  "When Ms. Barnes was telling us about the different people, I just kept staring at Bessie Coleman.  So, she's the one that I picked."(she said with a shrug)  Sounds good to me!  We picked up a Biography/picture book from the library about her, and Boo read it through, picking out the important information.

They gave them a list of possible displays (diorama, mobile, powerpoint presentation, poster, etc).  I knew Josh could have helped her do something really incredible on the computer, but I really, really wanted her to make this her own thing, so I sat back and let her decide.   It was tough, I tell you!!

When I was in the 3rd grade, we were studying the Gold Rush, and I'm sure I drove my mom crazy with creating an enormous timeline (with pictures), as well as a full-scale water trough, where kids could come pan for their own gold!  We spray-painted rocks gold, and everyone got to take one home.  Ugh, can you imagine?!  My mom was so patient and supportive, and I had really creative ideas, but I was so impatient with our limited abilities to make what was in my head a reality (no computer in those days, you know), I remember throwing many tantrums of frustration.  I deserved to have a daughter just like me, but Boo was pretty relaxed and calm with the whole process.  She had in her head what she wanted to do, but she took my suggestions pretty well (again, tried really hard not to let my grand ideas get carried away) and she was really happy with the result, which is all that matters!

She wanted to do a poster, which required two forms of artwork (crayon, paint, materials, etc).  She'd come up with an idea, and I'd give her a few choices of what we could do, and then she'd pick and do it.  The first column talked about her growing up years.  Bessie was really good at Math and Reading, and it was fun to hear her make a connection.  "I'm good at those things too!"

The first column had a state representing her birthplace.  She picked the colors and the paper, and did all the coloring.  Then a drawing of her schoolhouse, followed by a tracing of her hand and a nail file to show what Bessie did as a job - worked in a beauty salon clipping and trimming nails.

She picked the photo for the middle, and laid everything out how she wanted it.  

The other side of the poster we found this fun passport template online, so we created a fake passport that kids could "look inside" and see a picture of Bessie Coleman, and view a map of where she was going, even see the stamp to France where she traveled to go to flying school!  A picture of her International Flying license, and then a painting that Boo did of Bessie's Jenny bi-plane, complete with grass, blue sky and some cotton-ball clouds!  I love it.

She did all the typing and the wording underneath, and loved working on my laptop!  All in all, it was a really fun project to do together.  She presented yesterday in class, and got great marks.  Her teacher even emailed me and said how impressed she was with Boo's presentation.

I'm proud of her, as you can tell.  She did a great job.  Yay Boo!