PUPILS UNITE VARIED SKILLS FOR INTERNATIONAL MONTH

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 4, 1992                   TAG: 9202040124
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium
PUPILS UNITE VARIED SKILLS FOR INTERNATIONAL MONTH
Even though 10-year-old Angie Waddell squabbled with her team members, and said "the bosses [the boys in the group] tried to overrule" the girls, she's got to admit it was worth it.
Her team won first place for the most technical float last week in a competition held at Critzer Elementary School.
Building and judging the small floats was the culmination of "International Month" at the school.
"The PTA sponsored International Month," said Sandra Hart, a fifth-grade teacher and coordinator of the month-long activity.
"But everyone at the school was involved. Guest speakers from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland visited, the music teacher taught folk music from each country and the art teacher worked with painting banners."
To study each country, the entire school was split into seven teams of 50 to 60 pupils.
Each team chose a country to study, then split up into even smaller groups - called Cooperative Learning Groups - to begin work on the floats.
"Through the Cooperative Learning Groups, the kids learned how to plan and organize as a team," Hart said.
"They had to set a goal and decide how to accomplish it on their own."
That's where some of the squabbling began, but as an end result, the floats were a success.
Most were made with boxes ranging from a shoebox size to an orange crate. Then they were covered with construction paper, Lego blocks, sticks, parts of pine trees, plastic figurines, ice cream cones, cotton balls - you name it.
One float, depicting wildlife in Australia, even had a little stuffed Koala bear perched on top of blue eucalyptus branches. Other countries represented by the floats were France, Poland, Mexico, Germany, Italy and England.
Jamie Smith, 11, worked with four other pupils in his group. Their float, showing home life in Mexico, was the first-place winner for Most Technical Float. "I did the Legos building and the house [made of broken sticks glued together]," he said. Jamie's teammate, David Talbert, 11, helped out, too.
"I learned that what their houses are like is really different than what I thought," said Chris Hawks, 11, another team member.
Melissa Colbird, 10, and Angie Waddell, the two girls on the team, said they were responsible for decorating the float with the green, white and red Mexican flag, and for drawing a map of the country.
Work during International Month included more than constructing floats. Besides the work they did with their art and music teachers, Hart said the pupils learned to speak a little foreign language, read about the countries they were assigned and wrote reports. And as the culminating event, each team gave presentations on their assigned country.
"Some kids did skits, some read information or sang folk songs from the countries," Hart said. "And some did folk dances or told tales."
This was Critzer Elementary School's first International Month. Hart said it has been lots of fun even though some days have seemed hectic. She hopes they continue to have the event each year.
"We've had a lot of fun," Hart said. "It's given the kids a break from the normal routine and lets them do hands-on work."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB