New Elementary Elective: Cultural Connections

DA is excited to announce a new and unique elective for 1-5^th graders called Cultural Connections. Students taking the class will experience cultural creativity across curriculums and take an innovative journey around the globe. The goal of the class is for students to experience some aspect of all seven continents before their quarterly journey is over. Students actively explore stories, art, games, and music while learning a little more about our world and the diverse people who live in it. 

 

So far this quarter, students in Ms. Carlson’s class have visited Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, South America, and have also experienced Native American culture. For Antarctica, students decorated the classroom with snowflakes and “raced around the world.” (Antarctica is unique in that it spans every time zone.) Students colored flags from 17 different countries and we placed them around the DA Quad. Then we “raced” as we experienced each time zone from Europe to Asia. After such a chilly journey, we warmed up and took a quick trip to Hawaii where we learned to Hula Dance. 

 

To explore Native American cultures, we made corn husk dolls, learned the legend of the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) and played Native American games. Then, on to Australia where we learned about the didgeridoo and created Aboriginal Dot Art.  On September 21, the class celebrated the United Nations International Day of Peace by decorating DA walkways with colorful sidewalk chalk. We continued the adventure to South America! We made worry dolls with a guest artist from Denver's Museo de las Americas and "put our worries to bed.” Cultural Connections is a fun, creative and interactive class full of global adventure!