Study of Cultures Opens Windows to World for West Smithfield Students SMITHFIELD-- West Smithfield Elementary School will celebrate its second thematic, accelerated study in two years with a culmination event on March 22 featuring a student-led Olympic-like parade of colorful costumes, flags, music, dance, and poetry highlighting multi-culturalism. (Last year's theme was biomes.) West Smithfield is an Accelerated School, a national reform project where the entire school community has a voice in the decision making. There are 1,000 Accelerated Schools in the United States. At West Smithfield, the goal for every student is to perform at or above grade level, regardless of their background or family situation. Teachers treat all children as gifted and talented students and build on their talents through enrichment strategies, independent research, scientific experiments, writing, music, art and problem solving. Anne Koebley, who serves as the Accelerated Schools Coach at West Smithfield, said that the school's Community Involvement Cadre recommended the cultures theme, which resulted in the development of a schoolwide, four-week study of six cultures. As the Cadre discussed the issues and challenges of student achievement in the Hispanic community, the group concluded that "students feel safe and secure if parents can communicate with us," said Koebley. The idea to teach about various cultures was spawned. As the theme was interwoven throughout the disciplines, students were exposed to presentations from a variety of culturally diverse speakers, including a Middle Eastern native and a report given by a student who had had a first-hand experience at a Native American pow-wow. All the while, the study maintained a direct correlation to the state's Standard Course of Study, said Koebley. Each grade level studied a different culture: kindergarten, Europe; first grade, Africa; second grade, Middle East; third grade, South America; fourth grade, Native America; and fifth grade, Mexico and Central America. The third grade parade participants received assistance from non-English speaking moms who volunteered to make the costumes. One teacher, who is a Visiting International Faculty member, created a website on the Basque Country in northern Spain, his native land. To augment his instruction about family customs there, he posted family pictures and "introduced" them to his students. Additionally, the students can post messages*which encourages writing* after they have visited the website. "It's all inclusive," said Koebley. The culmination event "will empower students to re-tell what they've learned in a performance directly related to the culture they were studying," she said. Koebley said teachers can see the outcomes. "They're making connections and transferring their knowledge through conversation. You can see (through this strategy of instruction driven by student inquiry) how learning can be so powerful." Teachers voluntarily participated in the thematic instruction and were given a half day of planning and staff development to share and plan.
