Magazine - Old Trail School

Diversity – Through the HallsOld Trail students are exposed to diversity daily.Here are just a few of the ways:Sixth Grade – Language Arts students research a notable AfricanAmerican and put on a skit with their partner in class during BlackHistory month. The class also did a play called “The Melting Pot”earlier this year (written by their teacher, Chris Snyder) that exploreda diverse family who learned to celebrate many holiday traditionswith food.Sixth graders also learn to speak about their heritage in French classand make posters that describe their families’ backgrounds includingoral and written presentations.OTS at a GlanceAsian-American 8%Middle-Eastern 2%Multiracial 8%Latino-Hispanicless than 1%Seventh Grade – Students read books that deal with diversityof thought, race, religion, ethnicity, etc. They also study a unitin multicultural perspectives that explores black history and thetreatment of slaves as well as the Japanese internment camps ofWorld War II.First Grade – Children in Martha Matlock’s class have parents whocome from Austria, the Czech Republic, India, Iran, Mexico andSerbia. The class learns to count to 10 in the languages of theirparents and they love learning and hearing the similarities among thelanguages.Kindergarten – The kindergarten class learns about the Japaneseculture each year with books, activities and more. The students makesushi thanks to Nori McClelland, development associate, who leadsthe lesson each year and participates in the classes by reading storiesin Japanese.Fifth Grade – The fifth grade’s annual International Fair is theculmination of an in-depth research project about the geography andculture of a country selected by each student. This year, the Fair willbe May 1.Students choose eight topics they find interesting including:geography, economy, people, festivals, food, religion, housing,music, clothing, transportation, wildlife, etc. They use at least threedifferent sources to do their research and prepare notecards with theinformation.Students also create visual representations of their country that rangefrom dioramas to scrapbooks to poetry books. They also are requiredto select an activity to demonstrate at the Fair that may includemaking a food from their country, presenting a song or dance, makinga game or speaking phrases from the language.Creating a map and a flag as well as a travel brochure complete thiscomprehensive project that takes place during the course of more thantwo months.African-American4%Caucasian 77%Boys.................................................. 287Girls................................................... 24917% or our students receive financial aidThe faith and belief systems as reported byour current families are:• Christianity*• Buddhism• Hinduism• Islam• Judaism• Zoroastrianism• Sikhism• Secular humanism• Following the Golden Rule• Care and concern for others• Others i.e. atheist, agnosticThis list reflects responses from 400+ families onadmissions applications and is not inclusive of allOTS families.*(Per religioustolerance.org. Most liberal Christian denominations,secularists, public opinion pollsters, and this website define "Christian" very broadly as any person or groupwho sincerely believes themselves to be Christian. Thus,Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Protestants, RomanCatholics, Eastern Orthodox believers, Presbyterians, Methodists,Episcopalians, United Church members, Mormons,Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, etc. are all consideredChristian. They total about 75% of the North Americanadult population.7