5th Grade Heritage Day: Bringing School Families Together in Celebration of Diversity

On February 17th, 5th grade students rushed into school in anticipation of the annual 5th grade Heritage Day.  For the previous eight weeks, the students worked on completing the various pieces of the project.  From interviewing aged family members to researching countries of their ancestor's immigration, Heritage Day was the culminating event.  Each student created a display highlighting all of the things they learned about their family's history.  They made Heritage Day Notebooks, wrote biographies, crafted poems, cooked traditional dishes, and shared family artifacts.  Parents and grandparents were invited to attend Heritage Day and circulated around the booths, speaking with students about their family history.

     UA's 5th Grade Heritage Day tradition began 10 years ago, when Mrs. Karlyn Brown was asked to teach Social Studies in 5th grade.  "As an adopted child, I was raised to appreciate my heritage and the heritage of others.  When I first started teaching, I realized that most of my students had no idea about their families' origins.  When I asked them, "Where is your family from?' they would usually reply, 'North Carolina' or 'South Carolina'.  From there I decided to make my students research their family history, after all almost every United States citizen's family immigrated from somewhere other than the U.S." 

     Mr. Frashier, this year’s 5^th grade Social Studies teacher, was excited to continue Mrs. Brown’s tradition and was amazed at the final product. “I am so proud of our students and all the work they have put into these projects.  I wasn’t sure what to expect and was blown away by how hard the students worked,” said Mr. Frashier.  “I loved seeing all of the families come out to support their kids.”

     While this project fits in nicely with the required state Social Studies and English Language Arts curriculum, the best part is how it brings families together.  Paige McBride, a UA parent whose son graduated in 2016 said, "I love the heritage projects my kids completed at UA.  Wyatt (now graduated) interviewed his great-grandma who has now passed away.  We will always treasure the binder he did as a family treasure."

     "Over the years, I have heard of stories told by grandparents and great-grandparents that would have been lost without this assignment.  Parents have reported to me that they have learned just as much as the kids by working on the project," said Mrs. Brown.  That is the real treasure of the 5th grade Heritage Project:  families talking, sharing stories, and celebrating their roots.

     "I loved watching the students beam with  pride about where their family was from and what makes their family unique.  The students were eager to share about their history," said Monica Kocell, School Nurse and parent at UA, who attended this year's event.

     Heritage Day is an example of how Union Academy works to build a caring community (Principle 4 of the 11 Principles of Character Education) and provides a meaningful, challenging academic curriculum that respects all and develops character (Principle 6 of the 11 Principles of Character Education.)   
 

UA Students Learn By Doing!

  

      Students are running around the room, stepping on number cards.  Shouts are occurring across the room.  "Where is eight?"  "What number are you looking for?"  What appears to be a chaotic classroom turns out to be an environment filled with life lessons.  This is Mrs. Rushing's Experiential Learning class where she teaches all students in Kindergarten through 8th grade lessons on life and character.

     In Experiential Learning (EL), Mrs. Rushing facilitates a learning experience that almost always appears to be a fun game or activity.  Today's lesson is about communication, synergy, and helping each other, although the students will not figure this out until the end. She instructs the students to work as a group to step on a set of numbered cards in sequential order as quickly as possible.  To make things a challenge, the numbered cards are randomly dispersed around the room.
     After the first round, Mrs. Rushing asks students to reflect on the experience by asking, "What did you notice?" Students raise their hands, eager to respond.  "Everyone was so loud, I couldn't hear anything."  "There were only a few students who would help you." "It took some people a lot longer than others."  "It was hard to find the number you needed because they were all over the place."  They are then asked to think of possible strategies to make the challenge faster.  She doesn't agree or disagree with the ideas, but allows the students to process the suggested strategies.  The group sets a goal for improvements (a throwback to last week's EL lesson on goal setting) and then allows time to problem solve before restarting the experience.

     On round two, the room is less disorganized, but again filled with smiling students bumping into each other.  Yells continue to fill the air.  The group implements their system for finding numbers. Hands are raised in the air with numbers, students are looking out for each other.  They complete the challenge more quickly and are visibly proud of their accomplishment. When discussing round 2, Mrs. Rushing asks the class to think about how their ideas worked and what could be done differently. They are then asked to relate those lessons to school.  Students pipe in, "We should ask for help when we need it."  "Or if you see someone who looks lost, just offer to help them."  

  The bell is about to ring and Mrs. Rushing asks the most important question of the entire lesson, "What did you learn today?"  Fifth grade student Shelandee sums up the lesson by saying, "People may not know you need help if you do not ask."  "And when you help each other, it's a lot easier to get the job done," adds Shelby Brooks.

     But the lessons are more than asking for helping, or offering help to those who need it.  That may be the obvious goal accomplished, but experiential learning is more.  In this one class period, students step outside their comfort zone.  They are allowed the freedom to move around the room, get loud, interact with each other, and think outside the box.  They solve problems and learn to make mistakes in safe environment. They experience how to make eye contact while speaking and how to disagree without being disagreeable. According to Mrs. Rushing this is the biggest benefit of Experiential Learning.  "Kids do not have a lot of opportunities to solve problems in life without some sort of adult intervention- from a parent, teacher, or coach.  It takes a couple of lessons before they realize that no one is going to tell them the solution.  My class teaches students how to think on their own and how to collaborate with others.  We shouldn't wait until they are adults to learn these skills."
     Experiential Learning is an addition to Union Academy thanks to Dr. Walters.  "I believe Experiential Learning works hand in hand with our school's charter of developing the whole child.  It is an intentional approach to develop skills for life success that are not part of the regular curriculum.  Learning to work with others, develop compassion, and how to reflect on life's lessons are just a few of the benefits we expect to see through EL."  According to Mrs. Rushing, that is the beauty of her lessons.  "Because the group dynamics determine the final outcome, you never really know exactly what will be taught and it may be different for each child.  I can teach this lesson six times and walk away with each group learning something slightly different, all just as important."  For instance in this activity, one class walked away thinking about how important it is to ask for help and to offer help to those who look lost.  Another group reflected on how important it is brainstorm with each other and to plan before jumping into an activity. "Those unexpected lessons are just as important, or sometimes more important, than any that I may have planned."
     In a few short weeks, Experiential Learning has already demonstrated it's usefulness.  It is an excellent example of how UA defines character to include thinking, feeling, and doing (Principle 2 of the 11 Principles of Character Education) and how UA has a comprehensive, intentional, and proactive approach to teaching competencies needed for real-world success (Principle 3).

Chart above from http://www.joe.org/joe/2007february/a2fig1.jpg