SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS — Spring Lake Heights Elementary School was host last Friday to an indoor parade celebrating different cultures from around the world.
The parade wrapped up a school-wide, week-long event called Read Across the World Week, which was done as part of Read Across America, a National Education Association [NEA] program that celebrates literature and reading among students.
According to Library and Media Teacher Diane Murray, who runs each year’s Read Across America event, this year the school wanted to find a unique and fun way to partake in Read Across America that included all grade levels and fostered creativity.
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At the beginning of this previous week, teachers from kindergarten through sixth grade selected a country they wanted to highlight for the week. The teachers curated stories, found different facts and had themed projects that highlighted the culture of their selected country.
Then, throughout the week, students rotated through different classes to learn more about different countries and cultures.
There was no shortage of excitement throughout the week. Along with having different guest readers, second graders had a guest speaker from Argentina, who brought with him a video of someone living in Argentina answering questions that students submitted.
Meanwhile, fifth graders focused on Vietnam for the week and dedicated portions of their day learning traditional Vietnamese games.
One of the highlights from the week were the preschool students, who learned about South Korean culture by eating ethnic food, dancing to Korean music and even receiving a visit from one student’s two Korean grandmothers. The grandmothers provided presentations on traditional Korean clothing and instruments and even taught the children Korean phrases.
To wrap up Read Across the World Week, kindergarten through third grade students, carrying flags and wearing an assortment of different colors to represent their homeroom country, took to the hallways and marched as older grades, faculty and staff cheered them on.
The congregation was led by the Heights concert band, who performed an assortment of traditional West-African folk songs.
When reflecting on the week, Ms. Murray said that “Everyone enjoyed reading stories from and learning about these diverse cultures”, she added that the “parade was a great ending to a week of exciting and fun activities for our students.”
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