FBCS students learn notable lessons

It isn’t every evening that you can converse with 51 different famous Americans, but the Forrest Bird Charter School eighth grade class made that possible last Thursday night.

Friends and families enjoyed a free spaghetti dinner served by personalities as varied as Andy Warhol, Harriet Tubman, and Steve Jobs. Night of the Notables, an annual school event, represents weeks of intensive research and preparation by the students.

Todd Claunch and Holly Bronis, teachers at FBCS, teamed up on social studies and language arts lessons.

“The main things we want them to learn are taking notes, doing in-depth research, and how to present what they have learned,” said Claunch.

The students chose the person they wanted to study, wrote a biography, and created an item to represent the person’s achievements. They also made costumes and learned a one-minute first-person monologue.

The monologue was part of a game. Students used facts, accents, and even mannerisms as hints. Guests, who received a list of notables, guessed who the students were supposed to be. The prize for the most correct guesses was a $20 gift certificate to Ivano’s restaurant.

Veda Cox said she enjoyed making her own NASA flight suit and seeing her classmates’ costumes.

“The worst was serving the dinner,” she said. “I forgot things.”

She might have forgotten the salad dressing, but her poised presentations proved that she, like her classmates, had definitely learned the lessons.