Discovering the world beyond food and flags

Discovering the world beyond food and flags A few weeks ago, in preparation for our Cultural Festival, I wrote a blog post about how multicultural understanding could be developed at home. Now that the festivities of the day have died down, I thought I would share with you some of what we did in Primary classes to develop this at school and ensure that students experienced more from other countries than just food and flags.

A few weeks ago, in preparation for our Cultural Festival, I wrote a blog post about how multicultural understanding could be developed at home. Now that the festivities of the day have died down, I thought I would share with you some of what we did in Primary classes to develop this at school and ensure that students experienced more from other countries than just food and flags.

ASIA & THE MIDDLE EAST

Kindergarten - Grade 1

Students played several games from the Philippines and experimented with writing some calligraphy. They also played animal chess and learned Mandarin songs from the region before going on the try some Korean and Middle Eastern dancing. Lastly they coloured in some mandolas and had some Indian designs painted on their hands with henna.

THE AMERICAS

Grade 2 - 3

Students learned about several festivals from the Americas such as Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead - and Rio Carnival. They made calavera skull masks, papel picado banners and designed and created carnival masks. They also watched a BrainPop! Video on immigration the USA and how people used to quilt blankets to show their histories. They then constructed individual squares representing their identities before glueing them together to make a class paper quilt. Lastly, they learned about Canada and played games based Canadian symbols.

EUROPE

Grade 4 - 5

Students played a session of Kahoot! based on European landmarks before enjoying songs and dances from the region. They also got creative by repurposing British tea and turned it into pigment for painting as well as making images linked to Guy Fawkes Day with oil pastels. They then learned about some medieval weapons and tried to build a structure or castle wall that could withstand the force of a trebuchet

At the end of the day, all students from the youngest to the oldest came out to the field and sports hall to enjoy some sports from around the world. These included cricket, baseball, ultimate frisbee, monkey grab, patintero and some Korean games. It was wonderful to see all our students enjoying themselves and learning new games.  

Each year, this day of celebrating our cultural diversity allows us to stop and learn more about each other and the richness of the cultures represented in our school. We trust that you enjoyed the day as much as we did and that you learned something new about who we are as a school.  We are many communities, but we are one!