St. Martin’s Celebrates Global Diversity

This past February, we hosted our annual Lower School Global Fair, introducing students to diverse cultures, traditions, languages, and customs from around the world through a variety of creative and hands-on activities. This effort fosters an appreciation for global diversity and helps students understand the importance of cultural respect and inclusion.

As a part of the Global Fair, students created displays, crafts, and performances that reflected the culture they were studying. This year, students studied Canada, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, and several countries in South America.

Kindergarten learned about the symbols of Canada, Canadian currency, totem poles, beaver dams, and lodges, Royal Canadian Mounted Police or “Mounties” and the Inuit Inukshuk.

First grade looked at Italian Christmas traditions and compared them to their holiday traditions. They explored the cities of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Cocullo, and more. They even tried making traditional pasta by hand.

Second grade navigated the Middle Eastern country of Saudia Arabia, learning its geographic position on the globe, discovering the religion of Islam, studying the 300 varieties of dates, trying various camel-milk foods, and falling in love with their majestic desert camels.

Third grade studied Haiti, which had the world’s first republic governed by men of African descent. Students learned about Haiti’s food by cooking pineapple upside-down cake, tasting plantain chips and cola, and creating their own menus. They also put their research skills to use to learn about Haitian animals and created a PowerPoint presentation.

As a culminating Global Fair project, fourth-grade students researched a South American country of their choosing and created a PowerPoint touching on the culture, history, climate, animals, landmarks, and famous people of their country.

All of the students’ artwork, presentations, and displays were showcased at the Global Fair evening for parents and students. The event included a performance where each grade performed songs or dances, or presented information that they learned through this intensive, months-long interdisciplinary study.