Great idea for keeping things fresh during the summer non-school months. I was reading the above suggestions and thinking there were a lot that kids wouldn’t (maybe should, but…) know. So, I summoned my own recent 5th grade graduate and read them all aloud to see if he knew who they were. Completely unscientific and anecdotal, but if mine didn’t know them after completing elementary, what chance will the second-graders have?
Names he knew well and could tell me about: Betsy Ross, Sacagawea, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhardt, Cleopatra and Anne Frank.
Familiar, knew he should remember but didn’t quite: Susan B. Anthony, Martha Washington, Sally Ride and Queen Isabella.
The rest he hadn’t the slightest glimmer of recognition, I’m afraid. He did, however, suggest adding (the other) Eve to the list. “Well, she was the first, that oughta make her famous Mom!”
