Culture Fair 2013
On September 26th over 600 Edmunds students, parents and family members attended the 2013 Edmunds Culture Fair, with its theme “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” Over the previous month each grade level had studied a continent, concentrating on one or two countries on that continent. The week of activities was kicked off with a storytelling presentation by several ambassadors from CultureAll; afterwards there were workshops in the classrooms about their respective cultures and countries that included information on Native Americans, Sudan, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Australia and Nigeria.
The Edmunds students had classroom projects that included historical and cultural material from the United States, Liberia, Kenya, Somalia, England, Ireland, Scotland, India, China, the Amazon Rainforest, and Australia. English Language Learners (ELL) at the school also presented personal projects about where they and their families were from. The fourth graders had a writers’ workshop with volunteers from the Young Iowa Writers Project at the University of Iowa. One of these International Writer’s Workshop volunteers was from Uganda, who shared his new children’s book about Africa that he wrote while in Iowa City.
The night of the Culture Fair saw the huge community response as families came to the school to get their special passports, which were then stamped as they explored the different continents located in classrooms throughout the school. Students and families engaged in fun projects that extended their understanding of cultures around the world. There was a musical program attended by the overflow crowd that included singing, dancing and music by the 2nd, 4th and 5th grade classes. The appreciative crowd also enjoyed a dinner sampling of foods from around the world in the school cafeteria. Finally, each family left with a book, It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen, a book that was part of the inspiration for the evening and week’s activities.