Manor students study the world

Last week’s Country Fair at Seaford Manor Elementary School wasn’t filled with rides, games or booths featuring deep-fried Oreos. It was actually about other countries.

Third-graders have been studying nations around the world over the past several weeks, and they wrapped up their lesson by inviting in their parents and sharing their knowledge. Guests traveled throughout four classrooms on March 31, learning about other countries both near and far.

As each parent entered a room, they received a passport. It was stamped as they visited each country.

Teacher Elyse Cruz explained that the project was part of a Common Core unit in which students read “Magic Treehouse” books, then followed it up by studying different cultures and countries. In her class, the students worked in pairs to learn about other nations. They had to create a poster, banner, float and brochure, and were each asked to dress up as a famous person from their respective country.

Emily Richardson represented England and dressed up as Florence Nightengale. She said she learned that tea drinking is very popular and it rains a lot in England. “You got to learn about new facts,” she said of the project.

Matthew Mulligan was assigned to Sweden, and found out that it is 3,911 miles away from Seaford.

Cruz explained that students developed their research, writing and reading skills while learning about geography, government and cultures. She said the children had a lot of fun preparing their projects. “They don’t feel as if they’re doing so much work,” she said, “even if they’re doing a ton more.”

Teacher Maura Coghlan said the children were encouraged to learn as much as they could about the nations they were studying, and compare those cultures to their own. She said that to keep it fair and to have a diversity of nations represented from all parts of the world, students picked their assignments out of a hat.

Coghlan added that she was particularly impressed with the work that went into their presentations, noting that many students went out and bought costumes so they would look like the historical figures they represented.

“They worked really hard,” she said. “They were driven to learn more facts about their country. They were extremely excited about it.”