Libertarian Librarian

I have been critical of the Racine Unified School District in the past, and I probably will be again in the future. But last Thursday I enjoyed a marvelous evening at my daughter's elementary school.

The second grade had been doing a unit on Africa, and as part of that they decorated their classrooms and then brought in all the parents. But first we had an African drumming and dancing session in the gym. Simply glorious. Five guys up on stage playing the bongoes and larger drums, one of whom sang and three dancers for a number of the songs.

It is hard to beat (hah!) the thunderous, yet intricate, rhythms of well-played African drums. You find yourself moving along to the music without even realizing it. Great fun. The drumming group got the teachers to dance, and by the end they even had the parents up and dancing.

Then on to the Saharra, Savanna, rain forest and mountain regions of Africa. All of the kids had constructed new insects that lived in the rain forest using paper towel tubes, marbles, pipe cleaners, etc. and then written a brief description of their bug. My daughter's was the only insect that utilized a drink umbrella-- I'm not certain if I should be proud or chagrined about that.

At any rate, it was fun, educational and reassuring to see all the work the kids put into their Africa projects. Doubly so, since I know the students weren't neglecting reading, writing, math or any of the other core subjects to do their Africa projects-- they just worked their butts off to do the Africa stuff in addition to their regular work.