Photo Gallery: Japanese Tea Ceremony at Birch Grove

Second-graders at wrapped up their Japanese culture studies with traditional tea ceremonies on Tuesday.

Teacher Sheri Barna said that her class has explored many aspects of Japan, including origami, Kanji writing, haikus and much more in order to compare and contrast American culture to Japan. 

"They find a lot of similarities," Barna said of her students' discoveries, adding that novelties like dining while seated on the floor are also fascinating for many of the second-graders. 

reading teacher Cynthia Huschle, who spent a month in Japan, also stopped by earlier in the month to teach the students about her first-hand experiences in the country.

Classroom mothers helped serve the meal, which consisted of rice, steamed vegetables, Japanese meatballs, fruit, egg drop soup and green tea.

Check out the photo gallery of the tea ceremony posted above.