CARLYLE - The Carlyle Elementary School held its annual day of belonging on May 5.
This year was different, according to principal Tyler Fehrenbach, as CES invited families to share aspects of their culture with the students.
The students were divided into 10 groups, which would move around the school and experience 10 different stations.
There were five First Nation-Métis stations. They were able to watch traditional dancing, experience the food, which included bannock, and were given knowledge and games.
The Filipino station spoke about their language, the meaning of some words and details about their food, which included spring rolls.
Students learned about Kerala, a state in India. It is called the land of coconuts and has the oldest church or synagogue. It is also regarded as the cleanest state in India.
Another one was Francophone, which consisted of 225 crepes, 225 servings of maple syrup fudge and 225 sucre a la crème.
French culture was discussed and students learned how maple syrup is made, through the tapping of maple trees, and how it is collected.
Maple syrup is a major part of the Canadian economy with 80 per cent of the world’s syrup coming from Canada.
It was noted the largest heist to ever happen in Canadian history was of maple syrup. This happened in 2011.
Also included in the day were two team-building stations.
“It was a wonderful afternoon, and the students were very engaged and asked plenty of questions,” said Fehrenbach.
Although it was a lot of work to get things organized, they felt it was worth every minute.
It is the school’s hope to add more cultures and more stations next year to give the students plenty of new experiences.
