Rocky Hill celebrates St. Patrick’s Day as part of Cultures Week

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 3/19/15

Rocky Hill School celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early this year.

Last week, they had their annual World Cultures Week, where both the lower and middle schools forego the typical curriculum and …

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Rocky Hill celebrates St. Patrick’s Day as part of Cultures Week

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Rocky Hill School celebrated St. Patrick’s Day early this year.

Last week, they had their annual World Cultures Week, where both the lower and middle schools forego the typical curriculum and immerse themselves in the culture of another country.

This year, Rocky Hill learned about Ireland. In the past Rocky Hill has studied Cuba, Brazil and Vietnam.

Nancy Maguire-Rambo, a Spanish teacher, came up with the idea, and it had nothing to do with the upcoming holiday. She said that with a large population of Rhode Island and all of New England tracing back at least some of their heritage back to Ireland, it was important for students to be exposed to the culture.

She said, “It’s not just the history, we have the students study the dance, the music, all aspects of the culture. They can see why the Irish are the way they are.”

Throughout the week various Irish activities were planned.

The students Skyped with a class in Ireland, learned a little Gaelic from Sheila Hogg, a professor at Brown University, were visited by Jillian O’Keefe, Vice Consul General of Ireland, and even heard from Pendragon, a local band trained in the Celtic tradition.

Patty Pontarelli, head of the Lower School, said that students as well as teachers were completely immersed in Irish culture, making sure every discipline was accounted for.

“The exploratory nature of this week fits in well with our overall curriculum and is really beneficial to the way kids learn,” she said.

Maguire-Rambo said, “All the teachers put their heart and soul into this week, we are all just exhausted.”

On Friday World Cultures Week culminated in the students showing off all they had learned throughout the week.

Both the lower and middle schools gather in the gymnasium to sing the Irish National Anthem, “Amhran na bhFiann” or “The Soldier’s Song.” Then the lower school performed a short skit of an Irish folktale about stone soup.

Weary and hungry travelers convince a small town to come together to make “stone soup”. After every ingredient was added the students would repeat “Stone soup, stone soup, don’t eat alone soup.”

The Middle School learned the “Cup Song,” popularized by the movie “Pitch Perfect” in Gaelic and performed the song with red solo cups.

Also, for the last day of cultures week the Tir Na Nog Irish Step Dance Studio visited with over 50 dancers to perform classic Irish step dancing. They had dancers of all ages and abilities perform for the two schools. They performed to both traditional Celtic songs as well as contemporary ones. There were Irish games and even classic soda bread for the students to try as well.

Trixie Dumas, the art teacher and World Cultures Week coordinator, said, “We can learn a lot about ourselves when we take the time to learn about the cultural differences between us.”

Although Ireland was not chosen because of St. Patrick’s Day, Pontarelli said that this week has helped the students become more respectful of the holiday.

She said, “I think this had made them more excited for the holiday. They know the real story of St. Patrick and the true purpose of the holiday, not just the commercialized, Americanized holiday.”

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