The second grade class at St. Mark’s Elementary looks forward to the Christmas Around the World project every year. This unique project takes place during the second week of December. The students get to choose to learn about 5 different amazing countries. Groups that chose the same country get together and build a poster presentation to show to the class at the end of the week. They are proud to share their creations with the class. Students learn to be creative, color, write fun facts, and cut out things for their poster. They also get to cook a native food and share it with the rest of the class.

The project was originally started by Mrs. Cole who is now retired. Current second grade teachers, Annette Wilson and Sarah Persinger, have kept the long standing tradition going. They know how important it is to the kids to get to see other unique cultural traditions.

Wilson’s favorite part of this assignment is to see how excited all of the second graders are to learn about the countries and present their hard work to the class. Wilson said, “They haven’t really seen other Christmas traditions, so it’s really great to watch them learn so much.” 

Jack Buoy, now a 3rd grader, remembers the project fondly saying, “I liked everything, but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the research.  I liked learning about the traditions in Italy, which is the country I chose.”

Josie Brand loved the project too and her favorite part was making the piñata for her presentation about Mexico. Maya Koirala mentioned she liked doing the research and making the gingerbread. She stayed up all night making it for her presentation.

Ava Simon enjoyed the project voicing, “You feel kind of like a big deal when you get to stand up in front of everyone and do your presentation about what you learned. I also liked trying all of the Christmas food that everyone brought in.”

The project is a good learning opportunity for the kids around the holidays!