Black History Month at William B. Ward Elementary School

Tanja Rolon's fourth-graders at William B. Ward Elementary celebrated Ruby Bridges for Black History Month. They wrote newspaper articles, letters, and poems in honor of the six-year-old who was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960.

They also collaborated in re-creating Norman Rockwell's famous painting of a young, yet brave Bridges walking with the U.S. Marshals into the school. After the picture was made into a grid, they worked in pairs to sketch, and then as a team to assemble the complete picture. “It was an engaging and powerful lesson,” said Rolon.