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Edgewood third-graders recreate Titanic’s tale

Kayla Guffey, 8, practices the table manners and etiquette discussed in her third-grade class at Bloomfield Elementary School during the school's annual Titanic Dinner Friday March 19.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Bloomfield Elem. Titanic Dinner

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By Marie Rossiter, Staff Writer Updated 10:22 PM Friday, March 19, 2010

TRENTON — For about an hour on Friday, March 19, every third-grade classroom at Bloomfield Elementary transformed into the first-class dining room on the historic ship Titanic.

With a simple table cover, individual student desks became a formal dining table, including the finishing touches of fresh flowers and a menu announcing the afternoon meal: salad, bread, pasta and an assortment of desserts.

Teachers and parent volunteers provided all the decorations, prepared and served the food for the students, who just wrapped up a three-week study of the events and people involved into the April 15, 1912, loss of the ship that was presumed “unsinkable.”

“They are so excited every year about this,” said teacher Kelly Philpot “We’ve been doing this for eight years and the students begin talking about it in second grade; they can’t wait!”

Philpot said this year’s students connected with the personal story of Titanic’s passengers.

“What I found most surprising was how many people died,” said third-grader Bailey Rescher. “There weren’t enough life boats for everyone. People in third class were at the bottom of the boat and most of them didn’t make it out. It’s a tragic thing that happened.”

Students worked in teams to create Powerpoint presentations on various aspects of the Titanic story, including what happened, who was on board and even the recovery of the shipwreck in 1985. Individual projects were created and included models of the ship (before and after the iceberg crash), passenger journals, dioramas and posters.

“We tried to leave it as open as we could so we could encourage their creativity as much as possible,” Philpot said. “They did an incredible job.”

Parents were pleased and impressed. “My daughter, Gracie, has been so excited about this dinner for about two months,” said Carrie McNabb of Trenton, as she passed out dessert to her daughter’s table. “She’s obsessed with Titanic now. We talk about it every night. I’ve learned more about this than I ever thought possible.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mrossiter@coxohio.com.

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