On May 8th we had our last International Club meeting of the year. It has been a fun experience learning all about Germany! In October we sampled German food including bratwursts, sauerkraut, and pretzels that we got to shape ourselves!

In November we learned about St. Nikolas traditions and created paper shoes filled with treats to share with the teachers and staff at our school. In January we wrote pen pal letters to students at Maria-Ward-Gymnasium in Germany. In February we watched videos of German fairy tales, and in March we illustrated those stories by creating etchings in the style of German wood carving.

For our last meeting of the year, we opened the responses we received from our pen pals! We were also excited to look at the books about Maria-Ward Gymnasium and to discover some paper dolls named Joseph, Franz, Leni and Resi. A group of students took them on a tour of FA!

Mrs. Estes is the Head of the Lower School (like a principal for the elementary school at FA)

Our playground

We have a pool and we get to take swim lessons during PE class!

The gym

We have a natural playscape where we can play

This is the entrance to the Lower School at FA

This is a fourth-grade classroom. These students are 10 years old.

At our International Club meeting on February 24, we sampled three typical Dominican dishes. Madame Ibarra and Maestra Bonelli prepared Moro de Habichuelas (Dominican rice and beans) for us to try. Madame Ibarra also made a special cake called Bizcocho Dominicano. During our meeting we split into two groups to prepare the final dish. We made Mangú, which is a mashed plantain dish typically eaten for breakfast on the weekends. We watched this video about how to make the Mangú, then we got to work. We had to peel and cut the plantains, boil them in water, then mash them and add some seasoning. We also sautéed some red onions to put on top.

A big “thank you” goes to all of the teachers who helped us cook: Mrs. Estes, Ms. Potter, Mrs. Chandler, and Mrs. Atkins!

Here are the recipes that we tried:

Moro de Habichuelas

Mangú

Bizcocho Dominicano (with Pineapple Filling and Suspiro icing*)

*Madame Ibarra used an egg white replacement powder to avoid the risk of salmonella

And here are some photos from the meeting:

At our November meeting for International Club, we learned all about the Dominican Republic. You can see the slideshow here with pictures and videos.

Before our January meeting began, we reviewed some of the interesting facts in small groups. Each group was instructed to come up with a creative way to remind everyone of some specific cultural, geographical, flag or historical facts. Even though we didn’t have time for them to present what they came up with, one of the groups finished planning their presentation during recess the next day! As a teacher, I was excited to see that what they had learned “stuck” with them and that they were so excited about it that they wanted to continue reviewing on their own! So without further ado, here are some cultural facts about the DR: