Middle School World Cultures Week and Lower School Interdisciplinary Week 2008 - South Africa

Every year at Rocky Hill School, students in the Middle and Lower Schools spend the week of March 10th-14th learning about the history and culture of a different country. This year, students studied South Africa. Throughout the week, each division planned a variety of projects and educational programs within their division. They joined together to raise the South African flag, to hear from storyteller Glynis Bylin, and for a South African festival, Under the South Africa Sky. This culminating event was an opportunity for the students to showcase their work from the week and perform for classmates. The festival was preceded by a traditional South African barbecue.  READ MORE

Lower School	Middle School

South Africa Week, cont.

During Lower School 's Interdisciplinary Week, the children were divided into “villages” that brought students from grades K-5 together in mixed groups. They worked on a variety of arts and cultural projects, history lessons, cooking projects, and more to provide them with a broad understanding of the history and culture of South Africa. One group of students sewed ‘”Mandiba” shirts for the children to wear at the festival. These are typical African shirts that were worn and popularized by Nelson Mandela after the end of Apartheid. They are therefore called “Mandela” shirts or “Madiba” shirts. Madiba is Mandela's “affectionate name,” a tribal term of respect adopted originally by his own clan. The school donated these shirts at the conclusion of their study to needy children in South Africa. In addition, the Lower School organized a community service project for the Let's Play Foundation. They collected soccer balls throughout the week, and  Rocky Hill School parents Ande and Peter Frost of Narragansett arranged to ship the donated soccer balls to the Foundation who will then distribute them to children in South Africa.

The Middle School's World Cultures Week was filled with craft and poetry projects, enlightening Harkness discussions, folktales, murals, cooking and history lessons, a trip to the Roger Williams Zoo and a personal account from Board member and parent Ande Frost about growing up in South Africa. The Middle School students decorated the school's gym to resemble a South African village, complete with a simulated bonfire, gathering area and hut. There were skits, dances and performances celebrating the diverse culture of South Africa. Craft stations including Zulu dolls, bead art and Ndebele drawings were available for students to experiment with and student art from the week was also on display.