SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Students at Rockwell Elementary School are bringing a little heritage to life during a three-week specialty unit called “From Greece to Malbis.”

Second-grade teacher Anita Mattern said the unit is designed to immerse students in the subject matter through visual arts, theater, dance and music.

“Since its inception, Rockwell has been known as a Discipline-Based Arts Education school, and the DBAE curriculum is a wonderful way to involve all of our students and teachers through a well-rounded approach,” Mattern said.

Rockwell Principal Robbie Owen said teachers prepared tailored lesson plans and activities that focus on “the heritage of our local community, Malbis,” settled by American immigrants from Greece.

Mattern said the visual component of the Greek unit will focus on architecture, teaching students the differences among Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns that have, in many cases, influenced modern architecture. In addition, she said pottery will be studied not just for its function but its artistic detail.

Meanwhile, music will be addressed via traditional folk songs that emphasize the use of mandolin-like bouzoukis and lyres, or Greek flutes.

“Modern composer Yanni is Greek, so they’ll also get a chance to see how the tradition has been carried forward,” Mattern said.

Traditional Greek folk dances will be taught to all students during physical-education classes, and the theater component will focus heavily on the creation of ornate masks and the telling of Aesop’s fables, or morality tales involving animals and simplistic lessons for life.