Lady Liberty

Objectives:
To learn about the importance of the symbol of the Statue of Liberty.
To recognize the effort of Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who designed and built the Statue of Lady Liberty.
To develop the skills in impersonating characters, and in delivering good speeches.

Prior to this activity:
The teacher has read with his/her class a selection/ article about the story of how and why the statue of the Lady Liberty was built.

Students have given their reports of other information gathered from their researches about how and why was the statue built and who was Auguste Bartholdi.

The teacher has worked with the students in putting together a complete story of how and why the statue was built. They should add a good description of the statue.

Main Activity:

The teacher informs the students that the girls will impersonate Lady Liberty and the boys Auguste Bartholdi.
Each girl will partner with a boy.

The boys will construct the girls’costumes complete with their crown, torches, and the tablet that shows the date: July 4,1776 (all made out of construction papers; this is to give the boys the experience of being a Bartholdi, the builder of the statue).

For attire: the girls will put on a long green dress with a green hue or simply a green sheet over their dress, and the boys may wear a shirt with long sleeves (whatever they feel should an artist should wear).

On the day of presentation, the boys may hold some kind of a palette, made of construction paper, and a small brush for special effect -to give the image of an architect.

This activity makes the students understand and appreciate better the work that went into the building of Lady Liberty, and its significance to millions of people who appreciate what freedom means.

This is a good opportunity to develop the children’s skills in public speaking.

When I set this up with my class, I always invite the students’ parents to come and see their children perform.

Parents’ always appreciate their children’s performances and one way to get them really involved in their children school activities.

If it is possible provide the students with a microphone to give more power to their voices especially if they haven’t develop projecting their voices yet to the audience. It is one way of bolstering their confidence. Children love microphones and to perform.