At Lakeridge Elementary, the annual culture fair presents an opportunity for third grade students to research and reflect on their own heritage and learn about other countries and customs.
At this year’s fair, held Dec. 14, students performed songs and dances from Israel, Ireland and Russia, as a PTA grant allowed artist-in-residence Angela Carey to come in and teach multicultural musical numbers.
Anderson said that the guiding theme for the third grade social studies curriculum is “Cultures in our Community.” Before the fair, each student investigates his or her own heritage, researching the history, government, geography, traditions and famous people from their family’s country or culture of origin and presenting other fun facts to their peers.
Anderson said that they learn about immigration and the idea that America is a “nation of nations,” along with the importance of diversity.
Many different cultures were represented at this year’s Lakeridge fair, from Hawaii to China and the Cherokee nation to Poland. Some students recreated games played in their culture, and others wore traditional clothing. All proudly displayed posters and artifacts they collected through researching their family’s history.
Carey, a 15-year Lakeridge music teacher currently on leave, said that the performing arts help reinforce and expand the lessons learned in the research projects, as “the two parts of the brain are working together.” She said she was impressed to see that one of the students celebrating their German heritage chose Beethoven as a famous person to research.
Carey, a National Board Certified Teacher who has been honored for her extracurricular efforts with the school’s steel drum band and co-developing an Adaptive Music Program tailored to students in the Autism Spectrum Program, said that the dances teach students not only about culture, but also about teamwork. Each class learned three dances, and picked their favorites to perform for their families and friends.
Lucy Anderson’s class learned dances from Portugal, England and Israel, Heather McLyman’s class learned dances from Sweden, Ireland and Japan and Michael Aguilera’s class learned dances from Mexico, Bolivia and Russia. The three classes came together to learn a song about how to say “hello” in different languages.
Other elementary schools in Mercer Island celebrate culture with different events, including an International Night. For more on Island schools, see www.mercerislandschools.org.
