Students at Nora Davis Magnet School explored the culture of Japan during the school’s annual cultural arts festival.
As a part of the event, the students got the opportunity to experience Japan’s culture right here in Laurel.
Volunteers, visiting teachers and students along with teachers in the Laurel School District took student learning to another level as they allowed students to experience interactive learning through Nora Davis’ 12th Annual Cultural Arts Festival.
Nora Davis Principal Elaine Read said the purpose of this event is for them to learn a lot of different things in a fun way.
“The children get a lot from it,” the principal said. “They have fun learning.”
The students were given the opportunity to taste specially-prepared rice, beans, cookies and tea — which are all food items that are a part of the Japanese culture. The food was prepared by volunteer chief Linda Posey and others.
Paige Cullinan, dance and drama teacher at Nora Davis and project director for the Whole School Initiative, said the project encourages children “to learn more in-depth about different cultures.”
“It’s designed to help students learn about other cultures,” Cullinan said. “The students get to do fun stuff while learning about different things that originated in Japan.”
Organizers said the festival is a great way to raise awareness about other cultures and other parts of the world.
The festival featured music, dancing, food, visual art, Japanese story telling and many other activities.
Four-year-old India Ponder said she liked “doing the art”
However, seven-year-old Maxwell Dobbs said he “liked the food. The tea was really good.”
First grader Ashleigh Oville, 6, agreed.
“I liked the food,” she said. “I really liked the cookie and the rice.”
Six-year-old Jante Simpson said he “learned how they make tea. I also liked drinking the tea.”
Cullinan said the festival promotes different types of learning.
“It’s a good way to engage students in the learning process,” she said. “It allows us to embrace different cultures. They also get to learn the similarities and differences in the various cultures.”
As a part of the festival, students participated and learned Japanese dances, the country’s different types of music, tasted Japanese food, did art, developed origami/fans, heard GOAL Teacher Diann Wolf serve as a Japanese storyteller and the students took part in a variety of visual art activities.
Jeremy Brooke, the art teacher at Nora Davis, said students were given the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to the arts.
“It’s an interactive way of learning,” Cullinan said. “Instead of just sitting at a desk and looking at a board all day, they are really up and moving. They are learning by doing.”
To assist the school district in presenting this festival, students from the University of Southern Mississippi also took part in the event.
Organizers said each year the school selects a different country to highlight.
“We’ve done Africa, Mexico, and Germany,” Read said. “We want the students to know about other cultures and be proud of what they learn.”
Nora Davis is one of the Mississippi Arts Commission’s model schools for the Whole School Initiative.
The Whole Schools Initiative, Mississippi’s first comprehensive statewide arts education program, uses the arts as a vehicle for promoting high-quality instruction and learning for students in all disciplines.
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Photo/Eloria Newell James
Nora Davis explores Japanese culture
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