Oak Island Treasure Hunter Visits Deckerville

Who doesn’t like a good mystery, and a treasure hunt to boot?
Ms. Kim Zurawski, fifth and sixth grade social studies teacher at Deckerville Elementary Schools, has been instructing her fifth grade students on exploration and sixth grade students about Canada and what better way to get her students excited than by introducing her students to what many of the students were already familiar with – Oak Island and explorers Rick and Marty Lagina.
A reality show, “The Curse of Oak Island” premiered on the History Channel, featuring the efforts of the two brothers and their attempts in finding the “treasure” at Oak Island, located near Nova Scotia. The series talks about the history of the island, discoveries that have been made, theories of the island, and much more. The series has been very popular with students and adults alike.
So it was through this show that Zurawski was able to tie in the students learning about early European explorers – Columbus and Cortez and found potential connections between these explorers and Oak Island. (A Spanish coin and Roman sword were found in the area). The students learned about historic navigational tools and also modern day equipment used .
Zurawski took a chance by reaching out via email to the Lagina’s (who are Michigan residents from a small town) and a couple weeks later, Marty Lagina contacted her and said that he would be happy to meet with the students personally.

So, last Friday, Lagina surprised the fourth, fifth and sixth grade students with an assembly, where they had the opportunity to view a slideshow, drill Lagina with questions, and touch a Roman ceremonial sword that was recently located off the coast of the island.
Needless to say, the students had a great time, and also learned a lot from Marty Lagina.