Mater Dei holds Charlotte's Web Fair

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
March 4, 2004

Fourth grade students at Mater Dei-Immaculate Conception Center in Sioux City hosted a Charlotte's Web Fair Feb. 27.

The students spent the month of February reading E.B. White's classic book.

The two fourth grade classes invited fellow students from the Immaculate Conception Center as well as parents, grandparents and interested parishioners to attend the fair that was held in the school gym.

"We spend a whole month reading the book, doing activities and then the fair is our grand finale," noted Gina Jensen, fourth grade teacher at Mater Dei.

According to Marilyn Gilbert, fourth grade teacher, the school has offered the fair for about seven years so by now it is labeled as tradition for the school's fourth graders. Through the years, she added, it has grown.

"The first year we did had one room with hardly anything. Each year it has gotten bigger and better," said Gilbert.

For the last two years, noted Jensen, the fair has been held in the gymnasium. This allows for plenty of room for the students to display the dioramas - scenes they created based on the book. Dioramas usually are made in shoe boxes, however, the teachers gave the students artistic freedom. Some students opted to use a toy barns with plastic animals. One made a barnyard scene out of Legos.

Along with the dioramas, at the fair students had room to display their own personal collections. Some of the displays were stuffed animals, hockey cards, Legos, shells and toy horses. These collections helped the students individual personalities shine through, which enabled fellow students to learn something new about them. Students sat with their collections and were prepared to answer questions from the fair-goers.

Those who attended the fair were treated to various "fair-type" foods.

The teachers agreed that the story of Charlotte's Web is a classic and they both find value in the book's message - the true meaning of friendship.

"The animals learn to get along in the barn even though they are all different kinds," said Jensen.

Other activities throughout the month included completing assorted worksheets, studying vocabulary words from the book and making posters. They also listened to an audio version of the book read by the author.

Chase Shoemaker, a fourth grade student, said he found listening to the story that was narrated by the author to be addictive.

He said he appreciated talking to the younger students as they looked at his collection of cards and the "mega warrior." Shoemaker added that the month-long focus on Charlotte's Web will be "a good memory."

Kaylene Leiting said she loved the book Charlotte's Web, describing it as the best book she has ever read.

This fourth grade student brought a collection of Precious Moments figurines to display during the fair. She liked having the opportunity to see all of the younger students faces as they looked at the Precious Moments and other students' collections.