Building self-confidence

PROCESSION OF GRANDPARENTS: Bob and Nancy Xavier were among the scores of grandparents who shadowed their grandchildren Friday at St. Peter School.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU’LL MEET: Playing off his father’s interest in the presidents of this country and using a portrait he had of the 35th president, Logan “Sparky” Risho did his presentation on John F. Kennedy.

IT TOOK OFF: Ethan Aldrich studied Neil Armstrong and with the help of his mother put together the extensive display highlighting the career of the first man to walk on the moon. What surprised Ethan was to learn that Armstrong was a member of the Navy. As for whether he has any ambitions of becoming an astronaut, Ethan had reservations. “In case anything went wrong, I wouldn’t want to try it,” he said.

READY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS: Alexandra Cardin picked Rachel Louise Carson, the American marine biologist, author and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement, to study and portray. Alexandra said she worked on the project for about three months, retrieving much of her information from books and the Internet. Here, she makes her presentation to Ron Amedeo.

Warwick Beacon · Tuesday, May 2, 2017 1:15 pm

St. Peter School third grade teacher Jan Webb stood by the door to the church hall Friday morning and just watched. The time for teaching was over and now her 22 students were on their own. Each stood in front of a table with a display board they had created, often with the help of family members, as a character out of history. They had researched the person and written a narrative that they committed to memory and then recited to family and friends who visited the school. The third graders had a practice run with other students and then, on Friday, as the school celebrated Grandparents Day, gave their presentations to adults. The reward for Webb was seeing how far the students had come, their enthusiasm and self-confidence. (Text and photos by John Howell)