Friday, May 27, 2005 | 6:02 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
May 28 - 30, 2005
The halls of Staton Elementary School were lined with atomic explosions, famous Las Vegas celebrities, fighter planes and replicas of the Hoover Dam on Thursday night.
To the left was the Rat Pack and to the right Elvis Presley was surrounded by screaming groupies in poodle skirts. Blue Men roamed the halls, drumsticks in hand, practicing for their performance.
The Gifted and Talented Education students, choir and theater students spent almost two months creating their own version of the Las Vegas Centennial celebration. The result was a museum of Las Vegas history, and a play that covered 100 years of entertainment and history in 40 minutes. And of course, there was a birthday cake, but this time there wasn't any left over to send to the pigs at RC Farms.
GATE teacher Gail Keppler said she envisioned the festivity after reflecting on her own Las Vegas childhood.
"I used to go to all the Helldorado parades and dress up for Helldorado and some of my students didn't even know what it was that we were having the centennial," Keppler said.
So she decided to find an educational way for her students to celebrate the centennial. But in the end, after the projects were made and the show was rehearsed, the third, fourth and fifth graders ended up having a good time.
"It was like way more fun then writing a research paper," said Ian Miller, 11, who did his project on McCarran International Airport.
Casey Andrews, a third grader, did his project on Las Vegas shows. And for the show he and two friends dressed up as members of the Blue Man Group and replicated the show's music with trashcans and paint buckets.
The school's choir provided back-up music by tapping colorful sticks. Casey's mother, Brandy Andrews, said since Casey saw the Blue Man Group at the Luxor, all he's wanted to be is a member.
"He's very theatrical. He wants to be in a show one day," she said, adding that the next Las Vegas show her son wants to replicate is "Siegfried & Roy."
For the performance, music teacher Liz Goodman chose selections that were used at Clark County School District's Orff Music festival. Then theater teacher Ron Herz created vignettes that would tie the songs together.
"The kids just have a great time with it," Herz said.
In one skit, fourth grader Arianne Lakra portrayed a miner tired of heaving and hauling debris from the survey area.
After the performance, parents and students filed into the library and GATE classroom where the museum was on display. The projects were about Las Vegas history and covered topics from prehistoric life that lived in the valley to atomic bomb explosions.
Stephanie Van Beuge, 10, made a replica of an atomic bomb blast out of Styrofoam and cotton batting that she spray-painted orange. She said she was most interested in learning about the above-ground testing of the bomb.
Keppler said she gave the students free rein when choosing their topics.
"They got to chose any subject they wanted to and that is the key to getting this kind of quality from your students," she said.
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