Students go 'Around the World' at
Social Studies Festival at Spencerport School

A Social Studies Festival at Munn Elementary School in Spencerport transformed the school gym and gave students a multi-disciplinary learning experience.

Teachers, incorporating enrichment activities into the curriculum, helped students learn about their topics through research, problem solving, creative thinking and classifying and analyzing data. For example, as first-graders learned about flags throughout U.S. history, they also made a flag and learned about seamstresses and tailors. Second graders learned about today's community helpers and developed a diagram comparing them to earlier times in American history.

The projects from each grade filled the gym with "relics" of American and world history. Students, who toured the gym during the school day, and families at night, learned through hands-on activities such as pot molding and Chinese writing. Munn music teacher Ray Rossiter led a fife and drum brigade and Principal Todd Yunker was dressed as George Washington. Teachers Erin Sabourin and Deb Williams led the chorus in songs about U.S. history.

"It was an exciting time for students to use their interests to further their understanding of a specific subject area," says Stacy Dickinson, the district's enrichment specialist. "It was a fantastic evening and children moved beyond the knowledge and comprehension levels into the analysis and synthesis levels. This is true enrichment for all students."