Second grade students in Mrs. Harlow’s class had a special visitor on Friday, November 7 from another continent.  As a VIF teacher, Mrs. Harlow is lucky enough to meet people from all over the world. The special visitor, Mr. Lannagan is from Scotland which borders the country England where Mrs. Harlow was born and raised.   The two countries, along with Wales, make up Great Britain. Mr. Lannagan shared many interesting facts with the boys and girls.

To begin with he read a story called, “The Gruffalo” written by a popular British author, Julia Donaldson. The children knew the story written in English but Mr. Lannagan brought along the Scottish version and although they speak English in Scotland their dialect is very different. The children had a blast trying to figure out the meaning of some of the words as he shared the story with them. Did you know “mucked” is a Scottish word for “big”?  This surprised everyone!

Mr. Lannagan shared the Scottish flag and talked about how it is a part in the British flag. The children asked questions about life in school in Scotland and what the country looks like.

The children were very excited the minute they saw Mr. Lannagan because of his special clothes. He wore a kilt and his sporran (used like a wallet where a kilt has no pockets). He shared with us the special times he would wear this and the traditions involved.

We love to learn about other cultures at Rocky River and this was a great experience for children and staff!

This is the second time that students at Rocky River have had a chance to hear Julia Donaldson’s stories.  A few years ago we did a study of her books and compared our favorites with A Room with a View in Middleham.  What are your favorites?   Do you know of other authors that children love around the world?