ben as ben

In third grade, each child gets to choose a "famous person" to study, write about, and then dress up as for the Famous Person Museum. For Ben, there was no question who he wanted to be--Ben Franklin. The more he studied Ben F., the more Ben liked him. Ben already wanted to be a writer and an inventor, but to read about someone who single-handedly changed colonial America with his writings, inventions, experiments, etc., was a big inspiration for him. I loved reading about Ben Franklin too--I never realized how quirky, creative and out of the box he was.

Ben had total say over his costume, (he insisted he had to have a blue coat)

and he was very happy with how it turned out.

In the Hall of Science and Invention, Ben Franklin was put right between Marie Curie, George Washington Carver (invented peanut butter), Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison--pretty good company I'd say. Ben's props were copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, a book of Poor Richard's Almanack, the book Inventing America: The Life of Benjamin Franklin and the "Join or Die" snake flag, which was the first political cartoon, drawn by Ben F., to put in his newspaper.

Each student had to create their famous person in art class, and I thought

Ben did a great job including the kite and the key--and the prominent bald spot on top!

These two have become practically inseparable this school year--

"Ben Seuss and Dr. Franklin," aka: Ben and Reggie.