This winter, the third graders of Charlotte Latin School have turned into curators, making artworks about the nations of the world and installing them in a Lower School lobby as a “Culture Museum.”

“This was a collaboration between me and Maggie Shamblin,” says Lower School teacher Laura Balabushka, as students buzz around her classroom, eagerly rendering the flags of Japan and Nigeria and cutting pieces of fabric to create the national clothing of Paraguay and Australia. The origin came, ironically, because the science curriculum was bolstered this year, with the third graders receiving dedicated time in the science lab. “That gave us more time for social studies,” Balabushka explains. “We realized there was a whole section of the curriculum that we had never got to, about cultures around the world.”

Teams of students were assigned a country; each student then picked a different way to portray its culture, including renditions in different artistic mediums of the flag, the landscape, its history, a favorite food, and typical clothing. 

Down the hall, Shelly Magno guides the students working on landscape paintings. She’s pleased that after the students have just finished a three-month painting project, they have an opportunity to use some of their new skills. She asks a girl studying a photo of a Japanese scene, “When you look at the clouds, do you see how they’re going side to side?” The girl nods. “You’re going to do the same thing with your paintbrush,” Magno tells her.

Back in Balabushka’s classroom, she’s doling out clay and string and fabric to industrious students. “I’m not going to say no to anything I don’t have to say no to,” she confides. 

“The research opened up more things than we had even realized, like holidays and music and language,” Balabushka adds. “They learned so much from their research and from working together.”

Unprompted, a third grader asks, “Do you want to know a fact about Paraguay? They sleep on straw mats at night. Do you want to know another fact about Paraguay? Everyone in Paraguay is obsessed with soccer but they call it football.” 

The Culture Museum will remain on display in the Lower School through the end of February.