On April 17, Vicki Heil’s second-grade students were transported to Mexico for a day to learn about its history, geography, culture and customs. This was not, however, their first trip to a foreign country. In the past few months, the youngsters have traveled to France, Egypt and China. For their journeys, the Batesville Primary School class has been named The Herald-Tribune’s Classroom of the Month for April.

Around the World in 180 Days is a yearlong project that Heil created. She emphasizes, “Every child is asked to read for at least 20 minutes every night. By completing this task, the students earn frequent flyer points that can be used to fly to five different countries around the world.” The last country on the itinerary is the United States.

Heil, who has been doing the project for six years, came up with the idea while talking to a foreign exchange student. “He knew so much about the U.S. and his own culture .... That was my inspiration. I wanted to get kids interested in the world around them .... I wanted to have them see it as an exciting adventure.”

On this day, the classroom was transformed into a Mexican paradise. Traditional paper cuttings, created by the second-graders, hung from the ceiling. Each child made a poncho designed with original artwork and made a model of the country’s flag.

They talked about the butterfly migration, matched photos with their Spanish names and worked on their map and geography skills.

The teacher announces, “My son, who knows how to speak Spanish, read a story for them.” The 24 students also participated in a Mexican Hat Dance and feasted on chips and salsa.

One student explains the Mayan writing system as she points to a picture. “This is the letter A from hieroglyphics.” She adds, “My Mexican name is Lola even though I’m Alex Merritt.”

Dylan Flannery holds a picture he drew of a Mexican man in a hat and remarks, “Mrs. Heil said I was really talented.”

Eykis Fullenkamp holds a set of maracas and recalls, “One of my mom’s friends got these from her trip to Mexico.”

Kelsey Huffner identifies the Mexican flags’ colors – green, red and white – while Tia McConnell admits she learned something about the country’s military. “I didn’t know there was an army.”

Mikayla Redmon notes, “There was a smoking mountain in Mexico.” Carrie Murphy remembers the chihuahua was named after a state.

Several second-graders highlighted some of their favorite memories. Becca Spurlock enjoyed making paper dolls. “The boys had boys and the girls had girls. We had to design clothes for them.”

Madeline Greene announces, “We rotated from group to group to learn about ancient Mexico.”

Breana Moman liked playing the memory game, and Cody Perdue preferred the computer program that showed pictures of the country.

Other students remembered some of the previous trips. Amos Livers’ favorite country was China. “It had a great wall.”