Julien takes a walk through
history
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Turlock Journal
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| Photo by Diane Stevenson |
| Mathew Wade, 11, is wrapped up to become a mummy by the rest of his Egyptian team during their performance as they travel educationally through history. |
For the past three years, Julien GATE students have been participating in the innovative program that incorporates curriculum-based learning concepts with fun, high-energy and kinetic activities.
The company, which participates in schools up and down California, was formed in 1981 with the express intent of enhancing the social studies learning experience with creative and exciting techniques.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said sixth-grade teacher Glen Blackley. “It is a culmination of studies on ancient civilizations and it has been very successful.”
Students form three teams - Egypt, Rome and Greece - and compete against one another in a game show format for various points. Each team has its own victory dance and each individual is dressed in costume representing the particular “culture” or personality.
“This is a lot more fun than just sitting in the classroom all day,” said 11-year-old Nicole Woten, who played Egypt’s Ptolemy I.
Amid the whoops and hollers from winning teams, students were actually testing their knowledge of the material through word memorization and presentation skits that were performed before the kindergarten class.
“This is great,” said 11-year-old Simona Piro, who represented the Greek goddess Athena. “It’s teaching us new things about history that we didn’t know and it’s also a fun way to learn history.”
During the beginning of the year students held a “spell-a-thon” to help defray the $350 cost to the school for the program, but Blackley also said that the Julien PTA was helpful with additional fund-raising efforts.
“The strengths of this program are the enthusiasm of the presentation, the costuming and just the activity itself,” said Blackley. “The kids prepare for two weeks and they really look forward to it.”