June 4, 2019
Stepping into the 6 Blue team center Monday at Geneva Middle
School North, the low sounds of Mongolian singing and soft beats of African drums
could be heard playing on computers, under the excited chatter of students and
the smells of their freshly baked cuisines from around the globe.
This was the second annual Culture Fair led by sixth-grade students which, which according to Language Arts Teacher Mrs. Brenda Engelhardt, is a project that demonstrated students’ skills in research, writing, organization and presentations.
The cross-curricular project involved assigning students to
teams and countries from around the world. Students spent a couple weeks doing research,
then writing, organizing and presenting their findings at individual exhibits
at the fair itself. Each exhibit displayed a creative poster and additional
poster board filled with facts and anecdotes about each country’s language,
cuisine, climate and terrain, population, and more. Some tables even included
additional clothing, jewelry, or figurines representing their country of origin.
Dressed as airline pilots and runway engineers, teachers
directed students through the team center so they could visit every exhibit,
learn from their classmates about each country, and get a “stamp” in their
“passport.”
Delicious samples of cultural cuisine also were set up in
one classroom to offer that extra taste of each country.
Kudos to the 6B team on exercising many components of the
District’s Vision: least of all self-directed learning and effective
communication!