Annual celebration is a (multi)cultured affair
(Photo by MARY MALONE) Forrest Bird Charter School eighth grader Conner Hines, left, demonstrates an 1800s blacksmithing forge during the school’s annual World’s Fair event on Wednesday.
(Photo by MARY MALONE) Forrest Bird Charter School seventh-grader Silas Gibbs demonstrates Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano during the school’s annual World’s Fair event on Wednesday.
(Photo by MARY MALONE) Forrest Bird Charter School seventh-graders, from left, Brandon Tenney, Walker Rief and Rylan Turner talk about the culture, geography and other facts of Japan during the middle school's World's Fair event on Wednesday.
(Photo by MARY MALONE) A group of Forrest Bird Charter Middle School students talked with classmates, school staff, family and community members about Mexican culture during the school's annual World's Fair event on Wednesday.
SANDPOINT — The field at Forrest Bird Charter School was a plethora of color Wednesday as the middle school students dressed in traditional garb of different countries and cultures around the world, and displayed their knowledge through art, artifacts and food.
The school's World’s Fair is an annual event hosted by the FBCS middle school social studies department, celebrating countries, cultures and ancient civilizations, as well as America’s western migration.
"It's just kind of a fun way for the kids, instead of having a big test at the end of the year, to show what they know," said FBCS sixth- and seventh-grade teacher Audra Mearns.
After learning the basics of different places around the world, sixth- and seventh-graders chose one country or civilization to dig deeper into, learning about the geography, politics, religion and more.
A group of seventh-graders who researched Japan, for example, learned the country has three main cultures of Buddhism, Shinto and Samurai. Seventh-grader Rylan Turner explained that the Samurai are a "very loyal, very brave" culture, known for the kamikaze operations in war.
"They thought they were dying for a good cause — they were honored," Rylan said.
The Shinto were a peaceful culture, and Buddhist monks shave their heads and worship the god Buddha, spending much of their time meditating and praying, he said.
Walker Rief, another of the Japan group members, showed off their model of Mount Fuji, explaining that a monk was the first to climb to the top of the mountain, which is the 35th highest in the world, and the highest point in Japan.
"Now it is a very popular place to hike up to the top," Walker said. "Hundreds of thousands of people go up there every year."
Their classmate and group member Brandon Tenney was a wealth of information as well, noting that Japan has one time zone — JST, or Japan Standard Time — the area of the country is 145,932 square miles, the population is 127 million, and Nintendo is headquartered in Japan.
Mearns said the sixth- and seventh-graders were also required to research any issues in the country that they thought needs some help, such as deforestation or poverty. A couple of issues in Japan, Brandon said, are the deer nibbling on the trees in the national forest and turning it into a wasteland, and child abuse is on the rise.
The eighth-graders, many of whom are World's Fair veterans at this point, studied the western migration unit this year as they prepared for the big trip to Yellowstone National Park, said eighth-grade teacher Todd Claunch. The focus was not on the history of the west, Claunch said, but the history of occupations in the west. The eighth grade booths were set up in historical representation of places like Tombstone.
Eighth-grader Conner Hines brought an original 1800s blacksmithing forge to the World's Fair, along with knowledge of how it worked. The blacksmith would put hot coals inside the forge, and among other features described by Conner, a built-in bellows-like device would help heat the coals.
"It could heat up anywhere from 200 degrees to 2,000 degrees," Conner said.
The forge has been in his family for around 60 years, he said, after a family member acquired it from an auction. His grandfather handed it down to his father, and Conner thought it would be a good addition to the western migration theme, particularly since they were studying occupations of the era.
Every year Claunch said about 40-45 students go on the Yellowstone trip, and this year's group leaves today. On the way to the park, Claunch said they make a stop in Deer Lodge, Mont., and sleep in the old prison before moving on to a place called Buffalo Jump, where Native Americans used to herd buffalo off of a cliff so they could harvest them. From there they head to Yellowstone and camp just outside the park for three nights.
"It's the best eighth-grade trip," Claunch said. "We make the last week of school the best week of school."
The students raise their own money for the trip, Claunch said, and the World's Fair event also serves as a fundraiser for the trip, as well as for the social studies department. A gas raffle and a raffle for a driver's education class was held to raise funds, with the winners announced at the end of the event.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.