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NewsDepth A+: Step Afrika!

At Lomond Elementary School, in Shaker Heights, Mr Grahls' fourth grade class was able to go on a virtual field trip to Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. “The performance was called Five Days With Step Afrika!, and had five different performances over five days. They really enjoyed it, but it didn’t stop after the last performance” shared Mr. Grahl. This week’s A+ Award goes to Mr. Grahl’s fourth grade class for taking extra steps after a field trip.

Lomond Elementary School is an International Baccalaureate School and the fourth grade students study various ways to express themselves with a cultural perspective. It could be through stories, music, art, or dance.  Because of this, the fourth grade participated in a virtual field trip where they saw a virtual performance called Five Days With Step Afrika! and learned about Step Dancing over the course of five days. 

The students who were learning in person made their own dances and as other students returned to in person learning they were also taught the dances. Some of the students even told their parents about it and they told their children about their experiences of step dancing and how important stepping is at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.“It was a real community builder for us,” shared Mr. Grahl. 

The students are so interested in Step Dancing, that many of them are even going to use it in their final fourth grade project. “In fourth grade, the students work on an in-depth collaborative inquiry project that applies what they’ve learned since Kindergarten. This year students will answer the question ‘what will you do to make the world a better place?’ Students will create an art piece that represents their answer to that question and a few of them are going to use step dancing.” explained Mr. Grahl.

This weeks’ NewsDepth A+ Award goes to Mr. Grahl’s fourth grade at Lomond Elementary for stepping up creating a community!

Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.