The third-graders at West Meade Elementary School were given an assortment of snack items, such as graham crackers and chocolate bars. They were given pictures of a French chateau, a Chinese pagoda and other treasures of international architecture.
Then, they were given a challenge: to use the foodstuffs and their own ingenuity to create models of some of the world's great buildings. Today, they will be given kudos for their "gingerbread" models of the architecture of seven nations.
The buildings, a Russian Byzantine church, a Mexican courthouse, a Kenyan hut and a French street cafe, will be at the center of a reception for the school's 450 students, who will sip punch and enjoy cookies from around the world while viewing the third grade's handiwork.
The students also will see internationally inspired artwork done by other grades, including Chinese-style and Mexican-style paintings.
The reception marks the halfway point of a yearlong project in multicultural education designed to help students appreciate other cultures.
In September, each grade was assigned a nation to study for the year. Kindergartners are studying the United States; first-graders, Germany; and second-graders, Mexico. Higher grades are studying France, Kenya, China and Russia.
"We integrate the unit in every subject in school," said Principal Barbara J. Mason.
In language arts classes, the students write journals about the project. In physical education, they learn games from the countries being studied. Songs from around the world are taught in music classes.
"It creates school unity," said media specialist Penny Good. "If everybody's focused on one main thing, it brings the whole school together."
For the edible-architecture project, each grade supplied the third grade with photos of notable buildings from their spotlighted country. It was up to the third-graders to turn the pictures into sugary reality.
The results are called "gingerbread" buildings, but mostly they are constructed of graham crackers, frosting and other sweets.
The swirling towers of the Russian church were made from inverted ice cream cones topped with pretzel-stick crosses. Pieces of cinnamon chewing gum became the terra cotta roof tiles of a Mexican courthouse, shredded wheat became the "thatched" the roof of a Kenyan hut, and soda crackers were turned into the shutters of a French street cafe.
The work sharpened the students' problem-solving skills, Mrs. Mason said. For example, the children worked out how to used cardboard to keep their creations from collapsing.
"We used food boxes, shoe boxes, all kinds of boxes," said third-grader Akeida Lewis, 8.
Ms. Good said the project sparked a run on library books about the highlighted nations.
"I'm at the point where I have hardly anything left on those topics," she said. For example, third-graders who have begun studying elementary French in class have cleaned her shelves of French language books because they wanted to learn more.
Working with others, planning a project and completing it are life skills that will enable the students to compete in the job market when they are older, she said.
"Our goal is to have our students understand multicultural likenesses and differences all year long."