FROM STAFF REPORTS

Hilltop Montessori School recently celebrated diversity by hosting a multi-cultural international festival.

The festival was sponsored by a grant received from the Birmingham International Center for the 2008 Festival of the Arts Spotlight on Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The school’s population is extremely diverse, and the educators involved in planning the International Festival felt that hosting it would give the students an opportunity to become exposed to other students’ customs, culture and food.

This was an opportunity to celebrate the differences of the children and expose them to a variety of cultures within the school setting.

For the festival, each classroom chose a different country and the children immersed themselves in the customs, culture, language and food of the region.

Each class was also given the opportunity to travel around the world within the school and experience other countries in addition to their own classroom.

The countries highlighted were Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, but other countries spotlighted were France, Brazil, Pakistan and China.