Wordful Wednesday-International Day

Wordful Wednesday is like Wordless Wednesday, only WITH words. It’s for those of us that can’t contain the chatter, but in a good way. More info. in my tabber box titled WW on the right. Thank you for playing along!

Every once in awhile I’m invited to an event that literally blows my mind.  International Day at my twins school was one such event.  I knew that “International Day” was coming up, and I knew that parents were invited to spend the day with their children as they passed through “countries”, but I had no idea that it would be so spectacular.

I think that the students and attending adults probably get more out of the day than a whole year or lifetime of social studies.

Here’s how it works:  Every classroom is completely tranfsormed into a “country” by families that want to be involved.  And when I saw transformed, I mean transformed.  Wall coverings, artifacts, food, toys, clothing.  Hundreds of objects that represent each country can be found.  Even the courtyards are transformed with ethnic music and kiosks selling ethnic food like Japanese pancakes (proceeds went to aid Japan).  There is an opening ceremony and then each child is put into a multi-age group and assigned to 3 countries.  Over the course of the day they visit each “country”, spending 1 hour in each room learning about the country, tasting food from the country and doing crafts from that country.

Simply amazing.

And, of course I didn’t come prepared.  In fact, I didn’t even plan on staying.   Had I know how fabulous it was going to be I would have made sure I was there all day, and I would have taken my other children out of their school to experience International day as a family.  I also would have brought a camera instead of relying on the crappy photos from my phone.

But that’s all water under the bridge, right?

Next year I plan on crashing International Day with a camera and kids in tow.

Have you been to a school event that is executed so well that it astounds you?

Don’t forget to hop on over to my co-host  Amanda’s place to see what she has to be Wordful about today!

And, PSST!  Kabongo is publishing an interview they did of me on Wednesday, April 20th.  I can’t remember what I said, but I’m thinking that if you want to learn more about me, you can click on over.  If not to learn more about me, than to get FREE access to their site.  Just enter 7clown instead of paying. GoGo Kabongo is a new, fantastical online learning world of brain games kids love. Designed for children ages 4-7, GoGo Kabongo was created by a cognitive psychologist and father to help children become better thinkers and readers through the joy of play.


About Angie

Angie is a CRAFT dabbling, recipe making, WORD loving, sunshine hording, book DEVOURING, Mama to a lot! She's kind of in love with Instagram right now, so if you want her attention, go find here there. {smiling}

Comments

  1. Wow! What a cool event. I would love that!

  2. What fun! Why don’t we do fun things like that at work? 😉

  3. That’s pretty amazing!

  4. I SO don’t remember entering here, even tho I came back to do so … see, I have no words lol . Love that your kids get the opportunity to be involved in things like this, its so important for them to learn about everywhere else and look beyond our lives here in US … yes, play hooky next time, and join in !

  5. Oh! I LOVED when our school used to do that! I always volunteered to make some sort of food so that I got to bring home the experience too. So much fun!
    Glad you enjoyed yourself and your kids got so much out of it 🙂

  6. Wow! I’ve never been to an event like that. I would have been totally unprepared also.

  7. How cool is that! Too bad you didn’t have your camera, but hey a camera phone is better than nothing!

  8. My kids have done a couple of these at their school and it’s fantastic to see all the effort put into it. Definitely a hands-on learning experience.

  9. I had International Day when I was growing up too!! I loved it! Cute pics!

  10. sounds like a great school – and nope not too happy w/ my son’s school – thus why I am pulling him out next year. Found a fabulous school where I hope to see something along this that you posted!

  11. Wow! Looks like they put a lot of work into International Day, and how great that the proceeds from their kiosk sales went to aid those in Japan.

  12. What a great event! Every school should do this regularly.

    Happy WW!

  13. Wow!! That looks awesome. So much fun!!
    That smile is precious!

  14. I like the different countries in different classrooms idea. Our school does one country per year for the entire school. We did Ireland this year.

  15. Hello! First time visiting/participating. This week, I’m sharing photos from a recent concert of one of my favorite bands. Hope to meet a few of you soon 🙂

  16. That looks like an amazing event.

  17. What a cool event! I wish Princess Nagger’s school did stuff like that! 🙂

  18. How neat! They did a disability awareness workshop at my daughter’s school that I was really impressed by. I was so glad to be there. Great to see the kids gain a different perspective.

  19. That is the best idea, and what a monumental undertaking. I can’t even believe what all went into pulling that off! Fabulous!

  20. This looks so cool! And what a great learning experience for the kids!

  21. Cool pictures, and very cool idea at school!

  22. How flipping cool is that?! My girls would have loved that! I wish more schools did more events like this rather focusing on testing. We need to go back to the days when there was fun in learning.

  23. My son is in Chinese Immersion, it’s so cool when they get a different perspective of the world.

  24. I love when schools do stuff like this! It takes learning out of the books and brings it to life…wonderful!

  25. Oh my goodness he is adorable!

  26. Wow, that is incredible!! Is this a public school?

  27. That is awesome!

    For Chinese New Years, the kindergarten classes did all kinds of stuff. They had food tasting, stories, games. At the end of the day, families were invited to watch the kids perform a dragon dance. My daughter in 3rd grade was asked to be the head of one of the dragons. It was an awesome event!

  28. That is really neat! I love the pictures, even if they were “crappy phone” pics. I have TONS of those.

  29. We will be entering the world of school this Sept. I can’t wait….

  30. What a cool idea. (= I love it when teachers are creative.

  31. Angie,

    That is so neat. My daughter’s middle school does a similar thing, called a Diversity Fair, where all the kids do research and set up a table about their own nationality, and then the entire school has a “fair” day where they visit all the tables, participate in crafts, buy tickets, etc. We are looking forward to it!

    Genny

  32. Funny you should mention wonderful programs at our children’s schools. Today, I attended the Living Stations of the Cross at my son’s school. We are so blessed to be able to send him to private school so that he can learn about his faith in a school setting in addition to what we teach him at home. This program moved me to tears last year. It amazed me how devout and reverant those kids were even at kindergarten. This year was just as good.

    PS I hope you will visit my new bloggy home (no longer with blogger). I just got it revamped and redesigned! Have a great week.

  33. very cool! I’m going to try to organize a “state fair” next year for the kids in our homeschool group. Same basic concept, but on a smaller scale. 🙂

  34. Yada, yada, yada…cool event etc. But how can we comment on anything by that red hair and big grin? C-U-U-U-T-E! But then, I might be a little partial to redheads, as I have one of my own. 🙂

    Christy

  35. As a French mom, I am a huge fan of opportunities of sharing cultures with children. Our NJ school had the most amazing International Day and so did our Ohio school. Surprisingly, I don’t think there is one planned here in Illinois, but my 3rd grade daughter’s class put together the loveliest cookbook of each child’s favorite family recipe and it was incredibly diverse and entertaining. Food and diversity together – I literally teared up as I read it, thoroughly embarrassing my 9 year old which is always a plus.

  36. That looks like an incredible event! I bet it’s something the kids will remember for a long time! I wish our school did something like that.

  37. we had something similar to that in college…. the international students held it and i always wished i had gone, but i was out of town when they did it…
    glad you went, i can not believe you do not have a camera on you at all times!
    lol, i take mine… even to walmart! 🙂
    http://jumpin-beans.blogspot.com/2011/04/ww-need-haircut.html

  38. That is amazing. At my little ones school they visit different places for a month. Try different food and learn about these places.. That school sure goes all out.. Have an amazing night.

  39. Isn’t it so cute to see your kids doing such hard work at school? Loved seeing your prictures!

  40. Wow, it looks like the boys school did a fantastic job. Our elementary school had a similar multi-cultural day and it was always such an enjoyable event.

    I have been to many (and chaired) events at school that were well executed. Oh, that sounds like tooting my own horn. 🙂 Toot toot!

    By the way…..the twins just get more adorable each time you show them off.

  41. Super cool! I remember our Field Days and Pioneer Weeks from grade school. Looking back at those experiences as a mom I can appreciate the crazy amount of work that must’ve gone into that!

  42. That looks amazing! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I am your newest follower…please stop by Areyouamom.com and say hi
    Thanks,
    Maureen

  43. What a fabulous event! I love this idea. I will have to remember this idea when I head back into the classroom! Whenever that is…….(not soon….)