Graebner students get on board with historic lesson

Graebner Elementary students briefly re-surfaced the Titanic to help reinforce a number of lessons based on the historic event.

Fourth-grade students used the legendary event as a backdrop to cruise into lessons that included history, architecture, geography turn of the century culture, language arts, and even proper etiquette.

"We are trying to include all of the different subject areas," said Graebner fourth-grade teacher Tina Mow of Graebner's Titanic Day, a first for the school. The event was a collaborative effort of Graebner fourth-grade teachers: Mow, Kristina Rushton and Stacey Amore.

Students first studied the Titanic as part of an anthology lesson in its language arts program.

On Thursday, the students took the lesson a step farther by going back to April 15, 1912 by dressing as first, second, and third class passengers.

The students then had a boarding pass to participate in three different study groups. One group looked at the history of the luxury cruise ship, its route, passengers and timeline. Another group had a Titanic "Tea Time," complete with lessons on etiquette, while the third group learned about Morse Code and some literature that has come from the event.

Fourth-grader Sade Pledl said she has enjoyed the unit on the Titanic, being struck the most about how women and children were the first ones allowed to leave the ship.

"It's been fun that we get to act out history," she said.