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Students use their imaginations to bring their favorite stories to life

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Turtle Creek Elementary fifth grader Erin Lewis gives a presentation about the book Sarah's Sleepover during Wax Museum Night at the school.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Fifth grader Tigrio Huerta commands attention dressed in a T-Rex costume while giving a short presentation on the book The School Bus Driver From the Black Lagoon at Turtle Creek Elementary School in Delavan.

DELAVAN — Nobody was curled up with a good book at Delavan’s Turtle Elementary School on Thursday night.

Rather, dozens of fifth-graders shouted, drummed and danced. The fun included alligators, pigs and flies.

The event was the school’s annual “wax museum” night. For the price of a few coins, costumed students acted out sections of their favorite stories. Students were raising money for a field trip to a Brewer game.

Many of the skits ended on “cliffhangers,” and students encouraged visitors to look for the books at the library.

Many fifth-graders chose picture books that were below their reading level. That way they could entertain their siblings and accurately act out the plots, said 11-year-old Seth Kirsch.

Students designed posters about their books, wrote and memorized their scripts and collected their own props.

Here is a selection of students and the stories performed:

-- Abimelec Cano, 10

“Diary of a Fly” by Doreen Cronin. Illustrated by Harry Bliss.

Abimelec donned white, sequined wings as his fly costume. He chose the book because “it was fun. It had a lot of comedy.”

Abimelec doesn’t really like flies, he said.

-- Ruby Garcia, 10

“Bedhead” by Margie Palatini. Illustrated by Jack E. Davis.

Ruby’s thick, curly hair was the main prop in her skit. She chose the book because “it looked funny, and I thought people would come and see it.”

-- Zolton Loback, 11

“Max Goes to the Fire Station” by Adria F. Klein. Illustrated by Mernie Gallagher-Cole.

“I picked this because I think it will teach little kids not to play with matches and lighters and stuff,” Zolton said.

-- Alex Tejeda, 10

“Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs” by Judi Barrett. Illustrated by Ron Barrett.

“I picked this book because it is more of an action book because it starts raining food, and usually it doesn’t do that,” Alex said. “I thought kids would like it because who would know food would come down from the sky? It’s just crazy.”

-- Noah Smith, 11

“Pokemon—A Shipful of Survivors”

Noah’s 3-foot-by-5-foot poster was one of the most elaborate. Asked about the poster, Noah said, “One time my mom and I made a cell project out of cake.”

Also, it was hard to stuff tissue paper into a paper Pikachu, he said.

-- Aheem Demir, 10

“Quiet, Wyatt” by Bill Maynard. Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz.

Aheem chose this book because the main character, Wyatt, shouts a lot.

“I really like to yell a lot and thought this would be the perfect book,” he said.

Aheem said people don’t like it when he shouts in the house or in school, but they don’t mind when he shouts on the playground.