WEST ORANGE, NJ — The graduating fifth-grade class at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School celebrated International Day on June 8 with a festive expo featuring costumed students, cultural foods and informational boards on the countries they chose to research for a school project.
The event was the culmination of a month-long research and writing project requiring students to write a report on a country of their choice. Parents, loved ones, friends and the entire fourth grade attended the expo.
Fifty-seven fifth-graders spent the last month doing research and writing paragraphs on countries of interest or family heritage. The students wrote paragraphs on the physical descriptions of the countries, about the people, their cultures, religions, clothing, tourist attractions and more. They were also tasked with finding photos to represent interesting parts of their reports.
In addition, each report contained a reflective paragraph explaining why a particular country was chosen, what was learned and what was surprising to discover.
“I did my report on Russia because that is where my great-grandparents are from,” Dylan Schatell said. “I loved learning about the culture they came from.”
Prior to the event, each student gave a three-minute oral report to the class. They then fielded questions posed by their peers, which helped reinforce the knowledge gained through research. The experience also gave them confidence to speak in front of an audience.
The students also either prepared a special food item or bought one to share with attendees at the expo. Foods ran the gamut from challah with honey from Israel, Irish soda bread from Ireland and chicken kabobs from Russia.
“I served chechebsa, which is an Ethiopian food traditionally served as breakfast or snack,” Teddy Daniel said. “It is made from flour, butter, chili pepper, black pepper, salt and water. Some people use yogurt or honey as a topping, and both work great.”
In addition, the presenters were invited to don a costume reflecting their country of choice. Some wore traditional garb borrowed from friends or family and others created their own costumes from scratch.
Daniel Garber, who reported on Russia, wore a Soviet-era military beret with a mass of different military and cultural pins.
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