My class and I have been taking african drumming, singing and dancing lessons. After one week of hard work we did an Africa Bridge celebration. To celebrate the Africa Bridge Project, all of the second grade classes did African singing, drumming, and dancing. Certain people did solos and we made a circle. We clapped and stomped our feet and cheered each other on when we were doing the solos. This is the order that the solos were in: Sahara, Xander, Emi, Wesley, and Jack. I had a lot of fun doing the Africa Bridge celebration- I want to do it every year!!!! It encouraged me of doing things that I did not think I was capable of doing. Okaidja was a very nice and kind artist in residence. He also told us two stories about a Ghana tale about someone named Anansay. One was the bean catastrophe and the other one was Anansay and the spider.
Emi,
Your African Bridge adventure sounds like so much fun. You also learned about another culture. It is wonderful that you are learning about other people’s lives. You know, that your Mama was a member of Portland Taiko, a Japanese drumming group. You should ask her how the Japanese drumming compares to the African drumming. I think that would be very interesting.
Keep on learning…..
Love, Grammy