Waverly Park Fourth Graders Perform as “New Yorkers Who Dare to Care”

The fourth-grade students of Waverly Park School in the Lynbrook School District worked over the past three months to research famous "New Yorkers Who Dared to Care."

Under the guidance of the school librarian, Jacqueline Marino, and fourth-grade
teachers Jessica Kuehn and Courtney Jacobs, students used a multitude of resources, from books to nonfiction Internet articles, to gather information about their subjects.

Students profiled a host of industrial leaders, activists, political leaders, authors,
artists and entertainers who hailed from New York. Among the most notable were
George Eastman, Susan B. Anthony, Shirley Chisholm, Edward Hopper, Andrew
Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Walt Whitman,
Washington Irving, Billy Joel, Lena Horne and Lucille Ball, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

The children created engaging scripts based on their information and their school’s "Dare to Care" theme. The culminating experience was a performance in which
students acted out their scripts, dressed in costume as their famous New Yorkers. With the help of the music teacher, Madeline Jabin, the students sang popular songs, with original lyrics to match the theme. This performance incorporated social studies content, English language arts standards and character education.

This article was submitted by Rosemary Leonetti of Syntax, public relations firm for the Lynbrook School District.