D.C. viewed as a model city

Bartlett students build replicas of famous landmarks in nation's capital

Bartlett Elementary School students brought the nation's capital to their school courtyard one building at a time.

As part of a schoolwide fifth-grade project, students at the Henderson elementary school created models of famous buildings in Washington, D.C. Not only did the replicas have to reflect the actual structure in question, but the kids also had to be knowledgeable about their building and be able to answer most questions about the symbolism and history behind the U.S. monuments.

Fifth-grade teacher Lisa Sokolowski started the project at Bartlett because part of the class's curriculum is to understand civics.

"We're getting a geography, civics and writing lesson all in one," Sokolowski said. "They're supposed to be a tour guide and be able to answer questions related to their building."

The instructor said students have been working on the research, writing and creative component of the project for about three weeks, both inside and out of school.

"The biggest part is the research and writing," Sokolowski said.

On a tour of mock Washington, D.C., at Bartlett, visitors were treated to Arlington National Cemetery, created by Nathaniel Pickren and Jon Raj. The boys explained that the cemetery was, in fact, created in an effort to keep Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from returning to his former home. They also pointed out the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the eternal flame and President Kennedy's memorial.

"It's very hard to re-create a memorial," Nathaniel said. "Before we started, I thought the Kennedy memorial was a heck of a lot smaller (than the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.)"

Other structures along the tour included the Library of Congress, complete with hours of operation listed, the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theatre, the Supreme Court, the White House, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"I thought it was a little hard to put together, but it was definitely worth it," said Madysen Yanez of her Library of Congress structure.

Best friends Garret Rogers, Jarod Penniman and Sean Berman created the World War II Memorial, mostly out of Styrofoam and spray paint. The trio looked up photos of the war memorial on Google Images to see what it looked like, and then sought out Web sites that gave the history of the building itself.

"There are really 4,000 stars on the memorial, and each one represents 100 deaths, so that's actually 400,000," Jarod said.

"There's actually 56 pillars," Garret added.

"The ropes represent unity during war, and in the middle is the rainbow pool," Sean said.

While students continued to explain their projects to the parent volunteers and younger classes that were filtering in and out of the courtyard, patriotic music played throughout Bartlett's version of Washington, D.C.