Parade of Nations

*Disclaimer: I only had time between naps and feedings to visit the elementary classrooms; the information contained in this post is based solely on the rooms that I saw and may or may not apply to the middle and high school presentations.

In a nutshell, this event is like Open House with a theme. Each grade level selected a different country and worked for 4-6 weeks on putting together

presentations and displays based on what they learned about their nation. They read stories about their country, wrote about the things they learned, researched history and geography, created artwork that reflected the native wildlife, and performed musical selections in a traditional manner. Also, being that this is a Christian school with many missionary families, the students also looked at the ministry going on, some even doing some comparative religion research.

Work for this day monopolized hours of the school day for the past several weeks in many of the

classrooms. Teachers did their best to integrate anything and everything into the study of the country. Fourth grade students took their discussion of thermal energy in science and applied it to the need in Russia for quality insulation in homes and layers of clothing. Third grade applied their study of communities to Australia, creating posters of the regions that make up the land down under. And everywhere you looked, artwork abounded, illustrating wildlife, vegetation, artifacts and architecture.

In addition to the hours of prep work, researching the

countries, learning about traditions and creating posters, 3-D models and games, the students also had to present their findings to other students as a giant procession took place on campus last Friday.

After a thirty-minute set-up time, students moved around campus spending about 25 minutes in various rooms. Because of logistics (and an early dismissal day), classes didn't make it to see all 12 nations/classrooms, nor did they have to present 12 times. Instead, I believe each class presented 4 (or 5) times and toured the same number of other classes. Pre-Kinder and Kindergarten presented to high schoolers, and middle school students educated 3rd graders; AND they all still got their merienda/recess and lunch time. I caught a glimpse of the schedule that was given to teachers for the day and it was dizzying to look at; a huge gold star for whoever put THAT one together.

Parents, too, were invited to be part of the event and a handful did come to see their student's work. It's hard

to say whether or not the turn-out would have been different had the event taken place in the evening, but considering that there were NO 3rd grade parents that came to Back to School night back when I was subbing in third grade, I think it's safe to assume that the parents that wanted to be there made time for it. And would have no matter what time of the day it took place.

The nations that were represented, you ask? Here's a quick run-down:

Pre-Kinder/Kindergarten: Portugal

1st & 2nd: Costa Rica3rd: Australia

4th: Russia

5th: India

Middle School (lumped together because I don't know any better): England (7th), Japan and Austria

High School (again, I don't know which grade belongs to which

country): Vietnam, Haiti (12th), Egypt, and Ireland

Since Brandon sees ALL the students on campus during the week, he and the other elective teachers were assigned to various grade levels to help their homeroom teachers with the prep work and with crowd control the day of the event. Here is a photo of the 7th grade group that Brandon was able to spend the day with:

And the highlights of the day for me? There were three.

One was watching the Pre-Kinder students act as immigration at the door of their classroom, stamping "passports" and handing them to each student and parent that came in the door. Let's just

say they took their job VERY seriously and slammed that stamp down with fierce authority!

The other two highlights had to do with being involved in the third grad presentation. Bailey was the life-sized prop for the coastal region, playing in a blow-up pool in her bikini while classes toured the room. Don't worry, there's a referral in the works for her violating dress code. :)

And, finally, the third grade students performing their didgeridoo's for the 11th graders as they entered the decked-out room!