World Gala 2017

 So this happened tonight and what an event it was!

Over a month ago third grade teacher, Mrs. Yager, and I began our second annual venture into the international world with her students.  They researched in books and databases (Britannica and Culturegrams), created detailed trifolds to display their research, "became" an 8 year old from their country while being scrutinized by me, that crazy librarian, in front of a blue or green screen (paper hanging in my back office) for a video and then tonight, dressed up again, served food to all our guests and greeted them in their national duds.

And guests we had!  A grandfather even pointed out my capacity sign in the library laughing.  Please don't tell anyone.

These are the countries we had represented tonight.
Quite a variety, huh?



























The food was incredible.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to sample too many of them.  We had pizzelles from Italy (my daughter's favorite!), samoas and palak paneer from India, meat pockets from Djibouti, cake and cookies from all over, Irish soda bread, German potato salad, flan from Spain and so much more!

I have to put a huge plug in for Britannica.  We have Britannica and Image Quest and it made life so much easier for these young researchers.  As they say on their site, "millions of rights-cleared" images.  No doubt there were millions.  Every image on every trifold was from Britannica. Note to all librarians and administrators:  For this alone, it is well worth the investment.

Check this out (note: not all of the countries are represented in my photos):

Not even our whole crowd!  The guests just kept coming and coming!

Kiley from Ireland

Rachael from China

Samuel from Ukraine

Ryan from Germany

Joestin from England

Mya from the Philippines (my son loved the pork dish she brought)

Abby from Spain

Bruce from Fiji (love the Fiji water)

Liam from Brazil (even his little brother was dressed up in a Brazil shirt)

Sarah from Sweden (I never made it back over here for any of the treats :-( )

Micah from Italy with his pizzelles-yum!

Jack from Kenya

Aaron from Russia (His dad made the costume which looked so authentic!)

John from Finland (Did you know that almost everyone has a sauna in Finland?)

Quite the spread from Pakistan, that again, sadly I didn't get to taste :-(

Enjoying a meat pocket from Djibouti

Aiden from Argentina

Out of costume, Evan, from Mexico--That's a lot of food!

Isiah from India

Grandparents from "Spain"

Principal Derby taking a break from all the food!

And finally, all of our international guests!

Can you guess where everyone is from?

It's wonderful when all the hard work pays off!  What a wonderful, educational evening it was! Until next time...Adios! Ciao!

World Gala

Meet Our International Friends

Top row: Chile, Benin, France, Belgium, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Australia

Middle Row: Ireland, Spain, The Bahamas, England, Palau, Brazil

Bottom Row: Sweden, Kenya, Scotland, Mexico, India, Canada, China.  

Missing from photo: Germany

Tuesday night we had a blast in the library as we greeted, interviewed and socialized with our international friends from all over the world!  Six continents were represented with costumes, foods, language and tons of new information!  It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved! Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends all came to learn about the different countries, read the exhibits and of course, enjoy all the great food! The third graders worked so hard on preparing for this event and it showed off!  They did lots of research in books and on Britannica, World Book and Culturegrams.  Their trifolds looked beautiful and we all loved hearing about school, the landscape, the famous landmarks, the animals, and more when our "representatives" from all these countries were interviewed in front of a record crowd!  What a memorable event!

Just one of the views of the library turned World Gala

Our Belgium representative with her brother and Belgium waffles

Our friend from Greece.  That Baklava was delicious!  

If you were interested in a "spot of tea" and a biscuit,  you could find it here at the England exhibit!

Our Irish friend made these delicious "Irish potato candies" that surprisingly did not have any potatoes in them.
We all kept going back for more!

It was great for Zach to research Australia because he has family there.

Mikey came dressed in a swimsuit and flip flops.
He's smiling because the johnny cakes with pigeon peas and rice was so yummy!

Hola from Mexico!  Check out that huge bowl of salsa! Yum!

I heard these cupcakes were spicy and flavored with an Indian flare, but sadly I didn't get to taste one!

That crockpot is filled with a secret family pasta sauce recipe.  Don't even think about asking for the recipe!
Boy was it yummy!

After 4 long hard weeks of work, it all paid off with this wonderful Gala.  It was great to collaborate with Mrs. Yager and her students were wonderful!  I imagine it will be a long time before I stop associating them with their country and you know what, that's ok!