The Big Event

What is The Big Event?

Every year, our students and staff present a special program known as The Big Event. This program focuses attention on one area of the curriculum, but integrates all areas of study-from language arts to science, math to history, and all of the arts into the final production.

One of the rewarding elements of every event is the sense of community our children feel working in cross-age learning teams. Students in Kindergarten through eighth grade work side-by-side, learning from and helping each other. These groups allow our Middle School students to develop their leadership skills and younger students to work with the older students and be part of the larger TCPS community.

Each year students and staff keep the new Big Event theme a surprise until the day of the event in March. On the special day, our family and friends gather at school, the theme is announced by students in a “big reveal” and the crowd is welcomed onto campus, which has been transformed into a setting that highlights that year’s theme, to explore everything the students have prepared the previous several weeks. The Big Event is educational, fun filled, and a day for our families and guests to enjoy a memorable time together exploring all of the student exhibits.

2024 Big Event

The Big Event 2024: TRUE COLORS

The theme of this year’s Big Event was TRUE COLORS! TCPS students and staff spent time in January brainstorming ideas about what each color could represent and ideas on what they could learn about, create and display in rooms dedicated to each of the colors. As their ideas became more concrete they discussed hands on activities they could offer families and guests to engage in each room. Our students broke out into six small groups, with students in Kindergarten through 8th grade in each group, to learn about and design the exhibits. Teachers remained in each color room and the small groups rotated to each room for one day over a span of six days. They learned about the themes in each room, the art, designs and activities being created, and gave their creative talent to make the ideas come alive. At the end of the process, on Big Event day, everything was finished and they were able to explore with their families! From a curricular theme, students return to the each room on the Monday after Big Event to explore each of the rooms again, learn about the finished themes, and enjoy the displays and activities!

The Big Event Rooms to explore: TRUE COLORS

The RED Zone: Picasso’s “Rose Period”, all things Barbie, Valentines, play “Target”-pong, “red” characters, Anger from Inside out, Sleeping Beauty/Evil Queen’s poisoned apples (candy apples- yum!);
ORANGE You Glad You’re Here?: Marigolds, the Golden Gate Bridge, Japan’s Fushimi-Inari shrine, spices & dyes, sunsets, history of “orange”, Super Bloom of the CA state flower - the golden poppy;
SUNNY SIDE UP (YELLOW): Rubber duckies, BEES, sunflowers, school busses & Ms. Frizzle, Van Gogh’s “yellow period, the yellow brick road, emoji’s and their meanings, and panning for GOLD;
The GREEN Room: The Emerald City, photosynthesis, oxidation on the Statue of Liberty, recycling, putting green, kelp forest, green smoothies;
Into the BLUE: Dive deep into the BLUE: Music (Blues & Bluegrass instruments), Talavera tiles, water & ocean, a stream table, the inner dome of the Blue Mosque, art, architectural wonders;
The PURPLE Reign Room: Royalty, vineyards & grapes, military leaders, purple wildlife & wildflowers, purple people, “purple” athletes, Monet, fluorescent black light;
RAINBOW ROOM: In the Big Hall, each color room added a rainbow themed exhibit or activity! We had a Rainbow Fish, decorating rainbow lanterns, rainbow colored clouds, and more.

To prepare for The Big Event, TCPS students and staff immersed themselves in the theme and engaged in deep learning about the different color themes for each room. During Big Event preparation we spend time each week researching for several months. As the day of the Big Event draws closer we set aside special days for collaborative work in our cross-age Big Event groups creating the individual exhibit rooms and hands-on experiences for Event day based on the research and planning by the students. Faculty and staff facilitate creating the vision of the students - these are student led exhibits and this year every student was able to spend a day in each room creating. It truly was a school-wide collaboration. Our curiosity and work doesn’t stop with planning and creating the exhibits. Students and teachers return to their classrooms and explore connections to the theme in all areas of our curriculum. We find ourselves revisiting our Big Event topic in many curricular areas throughout the year. We embrace this opportunity as a learning community to come together to learn, problem solve, create, and collaborate!

The Big Event was once again a BIG success this year and students and staff had so much fun exploring all of the colors! Students loved being tour guides for their families and friends to show them everything they learned and what they helped to create in each of the exhibit rooms. There were interactive activities in each room to give students and families the opportunity to experience the theme with hands-on, engaging activities. This year’s Big Event undoubtedly demonstrated all that the TCPS students can do. Because at TCPS we know - and show - that students, no matter their size, can do BIG things

Save the date for The Big Event next year on March 8, 2025!!