For the second year in a row, as part of their year-long study around the topic of liberty, 4th Grade girls got the opportunity to be a part of a Naturalization Ceremony. On May 3, the students went to the Federal court in Baltimore to lead the pledge of allegiance, hand out certificates and pass out American flags to new US citizens. Following the ceremony, the girls had the chance to participate in an hour-long Q&A with presiding Judge Gallagher.

Prior to ceremony day, Judge Gallagher provided the girls with a list of the 17 different countries that the new citizens were coming from to the United States. The girls researched the countries to learn facts about the different nations so that they knew about those areas before the ceremony.

As part of their learning about liberty, the girls have been reading about immigrants and refugees. They interviewed family members earlier in the year to find out more about their family heritage and created story cloths from what they learned. In addition, the girls wrote “Where I’m From” poems that represented their families.