The World Is Our Community - Exploring Cultures

During our trip around the world, we visit all of the continents and focus in on several countries from each. Doing this gives students not only a good sense of geography, but also exposure to different cultures. We are different, yet the same. I recommend a fantastic book about this called "Same, Same, Different"

One example is our study of India. My student teacher did a great job of turning our classroom into a trip to India, complete with food, henna designs, spices, smells and sounds of India. 

We also focus on different time periods in other parts of the world; students may know their own heritage, but exploring the history of other countries reminds them again that we are all the same, yet different.

For example, every Tuesday afternoon we meet with our big buddies (grade 4) and we continue through Art History For Little Ones.  We've explored Cave Art, Egyptian Art, Romand Art, and now Leonardo DaVinci's  painting. This guy is truly fascinating - his inventions and his secret "mirror writing" alone are worth a few days of study! 

And finally, we focused back on our own community and what we can do to help in small ways. We collected a lot of clothing for less fortunate children!