5560 Shelby Oaks Dr .

 

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Riverdale Students Enjoy “World Travels” to Greece with a Stop at Jim’s Place

 

MEMPHIS , TENN. (February 2, 2007)….Riverdale Elementary School students are trekking all over the world from China to India and now Greece without even leaving the River City . It’s all part of an interdisciplinary curriculum that combines Social Studies with English, Science and Math to teach students about places of historical significance.

 

As an extension of that curriculum, some 115 students will take a field trip to Jim’s Place East, 5560 Shelby Oaks Dr., for an interactive Greek presentation and lunch on Friday, March 9. “ This is the third time we’ve chosen Jim’s Place,” said Social Studies and English Teacher Peggy Davidson, who organizes the event. “We bring the kids back because it’s been the favorite field trip in all my 27 years of teaching. And at the beginning of each year, students come in asking, ‘Are we going to Jim’s Place East this year?’”

 

During the presentation, Angelo Liollio, co-owner of Jim’s Place, presents black olives, peppers and Feta cheese as well as oregano and other Greek savory smells and food to illustrate the bounty of the islands and explain how the dishes are made. He also provides an overview of Greek culture through narration of Greek-displayed dress (daily wear and festival attire) representing the Greek island of Skopelos (Liollio’s family homeland) as well as a display of costumes worn by Grecian palace guards. Also included will be a Greek pictorial (depicting settings in Greece along the seashore and peasant pastoral scenes with sheep) plus a demonstration of Greek cooking using a traditional spit and skewered meat along with an exhibit of copper cooking utensils and vases from Greece .

 

“It’s important to relay Greek history to the next generation,” said Liollio. “Students will learn why Greek culture is as relevant today as it was in ancient times.”  

 

Also during the Greek presentation, young people from the Athenian dance troupe at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church will perform in traditional costume. Students will learn the Greek names of the dances, individual meanings and the significance of dance within the Greek culture.

 

Liollio said the lunch menu will include the restaurant’s ever popular souflima, a savory pork entrée made from an authentic Mainland Greece recipe. Students also will experience traditional rice pilaf, homemade Grecian bread and a special dessert.

 

Joining the students at Jim’s will be Reading and Social Studies Teacher Caren Vincent McCoy; Science Teacher Luther Murphy; Math and English Teacher Celia Walsh; and Math and Science Teacher Erin Fristick. “We’re also inviting the Guidance Counselor, Martha Morris,” Mrs. Davidson said. The guidance counselor stops by each class prior to the field trip and teaches table manners.

 

Following the event at Jim’s, the students will continue their Greek sojourn by attending a presentation at the Pink Palace ’s IMAX Theatre, “ Greece : Secrets of the Past.”

 

“It’s important to make this ancient culture live and breathe in the 21st Century,” advised Mrs. Davidson. “What better way than to awaken the senses of sight and taste to better understand the history of Greece ?”

 

Back in the classroom, Greek mythology including Medusa’s head are introduced in Reading and English, Hippocrates makes his way into the Science class and Euclid, the Greek father of geometry, into Math. The interdisciplinary curriculum has been practiced for the past decade at Riverdale.

 

Students delve into textbook study, embark on technology research (using the Internet to look up famous Greeks and even to present Power Point presentations) or create a poster of an influential Greek and make an oral presentation. Thank you notes written in business style to Jim’s Place owners also will be part of the curriculum (English, of course).

 

Why is the study of Greece so important? “We must understand ancient history to understand the present. Greece was the birthplace of a democracy that our country later emulated. The Greeks were so ahead of their time,” said Mrs. Davidson.