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.

2025 Big Event

The Big Event 2025: Oh Beautiful! Regions of the United States

The theme of this year’s Big Event was Oh Beautiful! Regions of the United States. How does The Big Event come together? Students are divided into six small cross-age groups, with students in Kindergarten through 8th grade in each group, to learn about and design the exhibits.TCPS students and staff spent time in small groups in January brainstorming ideas about what they already knew about different regions of the United States and what they would like to learn. Through sharing ideas with their group they began to develop a template in each room of themes to explore that are unique to each region including culture, weather, industry, agriculture, technology, architecture, FOOD, and more. As their ideas became more concrete they discuss hands-on interactive activities and games they could design and then build for families and guests to engage in each room. At the end of the process, on Big Event day, everything was finished and they were able to explore with their families and serve as tour guides to show them everything they learned and worked on!

The Big Event Rooms to explore: Regions of the United States

MPD: Mountains, Plateaus, Deserts
Northeast Town Square
There’s Nothing “Mid” About the Midwest!
Stormy Skies and Desert Vibes: Southwest
Southern Comfort: The South
Palms to Pines
Regional Time Zones Display
REGIONAL FOODS: In the Big Hall, each of the regions hosts regional delicacies for students and families to enjoy!

To prepare for The Big Event, TCPS students and staff immersed themselves in the theme and engaged in deep learning about the regions and ideas 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. From a curricular standpoint, students return to 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! 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 and learning about the different regions of the United States! Students loved being tour guides for their families and friends to show and explain 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 once again 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 7, 2026!!