Sandy Hook Students

Explore The World

Amid hand-made flags and tables brimming with culinary delicacies, Sandy Hook third-graders basked in their diverse backgrounds last Friday afternoon.

As part of a cultural celebration and a social studies curriculum that focuses attention on immigration and multiculturalism, students were sent out to interview a family member in order to learn about their lineage.

Each student transformed notes from these interviews into written reports, and brought in a family heirloom with which they were photographed.

A slide show that afternoon beamed up the images of each third grader holding his or her heirloom.

The highlight of the celebration was the human graph the students made to indicate the countries represented within the third grade. Students held up both their countries’ flags or signs identifying them as Italian or German, for example.

In all, every continent except Australia and Antarctica were represented, with the bulk of the third grade, approximately 95 percent, possessing roots in England, Ireland and Germany.

The 130 participants then had a chance to dive into diverse delectables baked by their parents, who were asked to provide dishes native to their country of origin.