Italian Day
Written by the Italian Monitors Connor, Jacob & Annabelle
with the support of Signora Di Petta.
On the 31st of October, St. Leonard's celebrated Italian Day. We took part in a series of events run by the Year 5/6 students who had prepared their activities beforehand with Signora Di Petta.
Everyone came to school wearing Italian-themed clothes, including character costumes, outfits in the Italian colours and DIY T-shirts decorated with pictures of Italian food, cultural symbols and even drawings of the Italian flag. We began the day with a prayer and a welcome delivered by us, the Italian Monitors. The prayers included Ave Maria, Gesu Gesu and Caro Padre. We then explained the plan for the day. After this, each class took part in a parade in the community centre because it was raining.
Next, we gathered in the sports hall to watch an Italian show called L’Ingrediente Segreto, which means The Secret Ingredient. It was about a young girl named Giacoma, who was also a secret agent. She had to find her Nonna, who had mysteriously disappeared, and discover the secret ingredient needed to make Spaghetti Bolognese. Her boss told her that Nonna had left clues along the way. When Giacomo reached the end, she realised that the secret ingredient was love all along — but then her boss reappeared and announced that her mum had now gone missing, and the play ended on that cliffhanger.
After recess, the preps, 1/2s, 3/4s and some of the 5/6s participated in a variety of activities. The students running the sessions were Activity Leaders, while the students guiding classes to each session were Group Leaders. The activities focused on the history of specific regions in Italy. We learnt about the Carnevale masks of Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the beautiful Sicilian carts of Sicily. After the Activity Leaders explained the history through a slideshow, each group completed a related hands-on task. They made their own masks, a Sicilian cart and a 3D Leaning Tower of Pisa using lots of coloured feathers, sequins and other great materials. There were two activities in this session, each lasting about 45 minutes.
After that, we had lunch. Since it was Italian Day, we all enjoyed pizza and gelato. Following lunch, each group completed one final activity before home time. We then returned to our classrooms and packed up for the end of the day.
Here is what some students had to say about Italian Day.
Lachie 5/6I - “My favourite part of Italian Day was watching the show ‘L’Ingrediente Segreto.' Trying to figure out what the secret sauce ingredient was kept me entertained until the very end."
Aaron Prep B - “I liked doing the mask activity. It was fun."
Israel 5/6I - “I really liked watching the show because she had lots of different parts to the show and there was a fun buzz in the room.”
Sandaru 3/4H - “I liked the parade, it was full of fun costumes.”
Izac 3/4H - “I liked the parade, it was a shame that it was raining.”
Alex 5/6I - “I liked the delicious Pizza and Gelato that we had for lunch. The show was very entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the costumes at the parade, everyone did such a great job.”
Shaylen 1/2C - “My favourite part of the day was eating my delicious Gelato.”
A massive THANK YOU again to Signora Di Petta for all of her hard work in making Italian Day such a successful event.