Mr.Madel is a 5th grade social studies teacher at South Loop School. It is his second year at South Loop, but his 14th year teaching overall. One of the biggest projects he does is History Fair.
History Fair is “an opportunity for students to showcase stuff in history,” Mr. Madel said. Students have to follow a topic, which this year is “Breaking Barriers.” This means the students have to do their projects about someone or something that broke barriers.
History Fair is for grades 5 to 8. Mr. Madel says South Loop has been doing History Fair for at least 10 years. In it, children learn to cite, research, and present. Fifth graders can only make tri-fold boards to present, but other grades have more options, which are websites, a documentary or a report.
Mr. Madel’s favorite part of History Fair is when he gets to look around and see everyone’s presentations. Other grades will see the kids’ projects as well. The way Mr. Madel prepares students for History Fair is the Aztec/Inca/Maya project. This is a project in which a student picks two of those ancient civilizations and compares them in five categories that they pick.