Murfreesboro City School Students Bring Louisiana to Life

Have you ever wondered what Louisiana looked like before exploration? Third and Fourth grade students and teachers at Overall Creek Elementary designed and created a replica of Louisiana through different states of exploration.

The STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) room was transformed into different eras through time as students created areas for pre-exploration and human inhabitants, the second area was plantation and cabins and how Louisiana started to adapt during the pre-civil war, up to 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit, ending with a FEMA trailer. Student-led tours guided participants through time where they explained how human interaction affected the state through pollution and animal extinction.

“They were able to see what families went through during Hurricane Katrina, and have built a great replica of a FEMA trailer which was built entirely by students,” says fourth grade teacher Tamara Cosby.

Along with writing their research papers, students created a visual explanation of their findings on poster board and presented their results to the school.

“Students learn more than just the history of Louisiana,” says Cosby. “They learn how to present and do research. The students are extremely proud of the work they have done, and they should be. It looks great.”

“It’s a good learning experience for us. We aren’t just sitting and listening to our teacher tell us, we get to really walk through and understand what they are talking about”, says third grader, Evi Riley. “We had free reign, we got to help with building the animals after we finished our research project.”

Third-graders learned more about how environmental factors change over place and time while fourth-graders focused on the Louisiana Purchase.

“The freedom these students get and where their creativity takes them is truly remarkable. They have deadlines to meet, but they also get the freedom to create what they want. It’s exciting to see,” says third grade teacher, Katie Nanney.

Since the opening of Overall Creek Elementary, teachers have ended the school year with creating habitats. Last year a Mars-like habitat was created.