Star Wars week uses The Force for learning at Cranbrook, B.C. school

As excitement builds around The Force Awakens, the latest film in a galaxy far, far away, a middle school located close, close to home is really getting into the Star Wars mood.

Parkland Middle School in Cranbrook, B.C. has been celebrating all things Star Wars all week with costume days, themed food, games and class projects.

And on Friday, the week's theme culminated in a private screening of the new movie.

"We've got all kinds of crazy things going on," vice-principal Kaley Wasylowich told Daybreak South host Chris Walker.

"The woodworking teacher has made R2-D2 Christmas cutouts, a science class is dissecting Star Wars creatures that are actually frogs, but it's more fun to call them Star Wars creatures.

"There are trivia contests, the band kids have all learned the Star Wars theme music and play it in the common area at lunchtime. It's just been a fantastic week so far."

Food-related classes are getting involved too, Wasylowich said, with dishes like "Ham Solo," "C-3-Pea-O" and gingerbread men with lightsabers.

Wasylowich says one of the education assistants has become quite popular over the week because of her mastery of Star Wars hair. She says there's always a lineup at lunch and during breaks, full of girls who want to get Princess Leia hair.

'They've been sworn to secrecy!'

The local theatre was responsible for the kids' advance screening of The Force Awakens, with both Wasylowich and the theatre doing quite a bit of work with the theatre's head office to secure the advance screenings — not only for her students, but also for students from nearby Laurie Middle School.

All that means these students will have been the first people in Cranbrook to see the new movie.

"But they've been sworn to secrecy! They're not allowed to give away any spoilers," she said.

Wasylowich says the amount of fun the kids had during the week is a testament to the lasting influence of the series — a series that started almost 25 years before any of the kids at Parkland were born.

"We've got kids walking around, literally, with books in one hand, a lightsaber in the other," she said.

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Star Wars week at Cranbrook school mixes learning with lightsabers