Our morning Community Meeting is the time we share news with our friends to help them learn more about ourselves. Many of us usually talk about travelling or spending holidays in a country other than Saudi Arabia. We heard friends talking about Lebanon, the USA, Canada… Well, as we were getting to know each other better, we realized that most of us come from different countries and we speak different languages at home. However, not all of us knew where we come from. This question opened the door to a new investigation about the countries and therefore the cultures that are represented in our classroom community. Our parents played a significant role in gathering and sending to school all the information we needed. Here is what we did:
First we asked mommies and daddies to send to school photos and/or traditional items from our countries. We collected all these items in the classroom and presented them to our friends during Show & Tell.
First we asked mommies and daddies to send to school photos and/or traditional items from our countries. We collected all these items in the classroom and presented them to our friends during Show & Tell.
All of us brought in flags from home. As a whole group we discussed what the flags are for, looked at them closely, and wrote down what we noticed.
We agreed to work in teams and make big flags to decorate our classroom with and hold during the big parade. Once again we worked in small groups.
We may come from different countries, but all of these countries are parts of the world we all live in. We listened to the very nice song, “Hello to all the children of the world”, which inspired us to learn how to say “Good morning” in all the languages that our Busy Bees friends speak at home. Since that day, we open our Community Meeting by greeting everyone in English, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, Romanian, Greek, Serbian, and Chinese. We also started listening to traditional lullabies in all these languages during nap time.
Our work on cultural identities culminated in a big celebration where all the PK3 and PK4 students (dressed in their traditional costumes) met. We paraded national flags, listened to national anthems, and tasted traditional dishes from all the countries we come from.
Our work on cultural identities culminated in a big celebration where all the PK3 and PK4 students (dressed in their traditional costumes) met. We paraded national flags, listened to national anthems, and tasted traditional dishes from all the countries we come from.
Well… this is how everyone else's story ends, but not ours. We read the story “I Need My Own Country” by Rick Walton. The story follows a girl who decides to build her own country in her bedroom and live there on her own. We found it a very interesting idea, and we decided to make our own country too.
Once again we put our heads and hands together in order to make one more dream come true. First we used all the information we had learned about countries and brainstormed about how we would like our country to look.
We decided our country should be located in our classroom. Then we talked about the citizens. After a long debate, we agreed that both students and teachers will be in residence. After that we moved on to another hot topic. We knew that most countries have their own currency. We wanted our country to have its own too. After observing bills from various countries all over the world, we created our own unique Beelars. We made 1, 5, and 10 Beelar bills.
We also worked in small groups according to what each of us chose to help with. One group was responsible for the town planning of our country. They created the transport facilities (streets, highways, and bridges)...
... as well as the architecture (houses, hospitals, schools, and an airport).
Two other groups created the geographical features of our country. Some Busy Bees made a wonderful beach with golden sand and a few rocky spots. The sea was shallow, salty and full of wonderful creatures.
Some others decorated mountains with snowy tops,
while the rest worked hard in order to make our country green, full of flowers and trees.
Some volunteers worked on the flag. They used the information they had gathered about flags, and decided the colors, the shapes, and the symbols they wanted their flag to have. In this country everyone is friends with everyone else, so the symbol couldn't be anything but a heart!
After each of the groups finished their work, we stood around our own country and looked at it. It was wonderful! We had everything we wanted … but a name for it. After some modifications we agreed by consensus to name it “Cloomania”. So, here is our very own country in all of its glory!
Then, just like magic our imagination took us up several notches to where we can make great things happen. And we did … we brought this paper-made country into life! We added more citizens, animals and vehicles, and we all together lived happily ever after… till it rained! The rain was a signal that it was time for recess. Most dreams last for just a few minutes. So did our dream, but the memory of it will be something we will carry with us for a looooong time!
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