Students Wear History on Their Sleeves
Peanut, the elephant mascot at Somers Middle School, celebrated Italian-American Heritage Month, donning a Venetian straw hat, apron, and flag.
Meanwhile, in Italian language classes, students celebrated in a variety of ways. During a W.I.N. (What I Need) period, students in Professoressa Quinn’s class made paper gondolas.
“Gondolas are typical boats that you will find in Venice. They are not like kayaks or canoes,” said Professoressa Quinn. “There are no cars. The people use boats to get around.”
They started by cutting out a paper template and then drawing and coloring a picture of themselves to put inside the boat. The boats were completed by adding a popsicle stick to hold them and adding a forcola, the traditional gondola paddle used to control the boat.
“I’m working on a Gondola from Venice, Italy. I like this project because I’ve been there,” said Rita K. “They used a stick to steer the boat.”
During their regular Italian classes, students designed and decorated T-shirts. The back of the shirt was inspired by this year’s Italian-American Heritage Month theme—Giovanni da Verrazzano and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Students first drew their bridges in pencil on the shirts, then used various markers to make their creations permanent.
“We’ll be drawing the bridge on the back of the shirt because this year marks the 60th anniversary of the bridge being built,” said Mr. Daniel Drebycz. “On the front is where you can get creative.”
The design on the front of the shirt was up to the students to create. Some chose a common Italian phrase or individual words, while others chose a picture with the vocabulary they’ve been studying or even the Italian flag.
“We have to write on the back and draw a bridge,” said Gabby S. “On the front of the shirt, I’ll probably write a bunch of Italian words.”
Once every student had an opportunity to complete their shirts, willing students participated in a fashion show, modeling their creations for their classmates. Students who chose not to participate were the judges and selected the top three winners.
Making T-shirts not only allowed students to learn more about Italian culture and history while strengthening their vocabulary, but it also allowed them to embrace their International Baccalaureate learner profile attribute of thinker, or pensatori.
- District
- Middle School
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