Ucluelet Elementary School’s library was filled with inspiring Canadiana last Thursday as students celebrated their annual Heritage Fair festivities.
About 46 students from Grades 3-6 delivered presentations on a wide array of Canadian icons and topics that they had chosen themselves.
“We can teach the curriculum straight out of the textbook, but students are much more engaged when they get to choose the focus of their studies,” UES teacher and fair sponsor Christine Brice told the Westerly News at the event.
“It’s very important as a proud Canadian, and a contributing member of Canadian society, to know where we came from and, those who don’t know their history are condemned to repeat it.”
She added the fair helps hone the students’ oral communication skills along with researching and writing.
“It brings lots of the different curricular items together and you can tell by how many people are here and how proud they are that it’s really inspiring for them,” she said.
The students spent about eight weeks putting their presentations together and Brice was thrilled with what they accomplished.
“They did such an amazing job this year. Our community judges were just blown away by how much information the kids had researched, how articulate they were and how passionate they were in describing what they had learned,” she said.
The students spent Friday afternoon in Port Alberni to participate in the Regional Heritage Fair.