Forest Road students explore the world

Students at Forest Road School celebrated the whole world with its International Week festivities. And yes, they even included Antarctica.

Tables were set up around the building featuring information about several dozen different countries, including artifacts and clothing. Each section of the school represented a different continent. And throughout the week, students did the morning announcements in their native languages.

Principal Erin Malone said the PTA has always sponsored an International Night celebration, which was held last Thursday. But this year, she wanted to get the students more involved and had a whole week’s worth of festivities around the big night.

The celebration kicked-off on May 21 with a Dances Around the World presentation, sponsored by the PTA. Children got to see instruments and dances from a variety of countries. There was a parade of flags in which every child was given a nation’s flag, and together they marched around the school. The word “hello” was written out in several different languages and hung by the main entrance.

Malone said that each class was assigned a continent, and from there children were able to pick which country they wanted to research. Some students selected their native land, while others picked a nation they have no ties to. “We encouraged students to not only share their culture,” she said, “but to research outside of that.”

Sixth-graders Insa Karar and Aamna Atif both picked Pakistan because they wanted to learn about the country where they were born. Insa moved to the United States when she was 5, but has visited more than a dozen times since. Aamna, who came here when she was 2, has only been back once. “It’s our native country and we were feeling we didn’t know much about it,” Aamna said.

They brought in artifacts from home — learning the significance of many of those items for the first time — and set up a table at school.

In addition to a poster about Pakistan, they displayed traditional clothing and shoes for men, women and children, as well as a hand-carved tray, a copy of the Qur’an, other religious items and Danidas — instrumental sticks used only at weddings. The girls also had their hands covered in Henna, a temporary tattoo technique.

“We have a lot of things to our country,” Insa said, adding that she hopes her classmates learned a little more about Pakistan.

Brandon Dial and Allyce Yang selected India. They also brought in artifacts, including a miniature butter-making machine and models of furniture. The sixth-graders also created a game with facts about India in a box.

The pair also learned some information while they were researching the country. “I didn’t know that Mother Theresa was Indian,” Brandon said. Allyce added that she found out India has the world’s second largest population.

For a fifth-grade project, students created a quilt representing all the countries of Europe. Even Antarctica was represented, as students in the life skills class made paper maché penguins.

Malone said the week was a great experience for all. “We worked very hard to make it authentic,” she said, “so people got to share their own experiences and learn about others.”