One more project we did this week on the social studies theme of December holiday traditions was making Kwanzaa mkekas (em-KEH-kah), or woven mats. This is the traditional centerpiece on which families place muhindi (ears of corn) and other mazao (fruits and vegetables) and the kinara (wooden candle holder) with seven candles in black, red, and green.
It was challenging to do the weaving and lots of refrains of "over, under, over, under" could be heard being muttered in the room as the students worked on this project. But they got the hang of it as they worked and were quite proud of the results. It was a great chance to practice the idea that mistakes help us learn, too; every one of us made mistakes here and there when we noticed the pattern suddenly didn't look right. But mistakes were easy to fix-- we just pulled the strip of paper out and tried again! We'll send these mats home soon, too.
We've also done a Kwanzaa greeting this week: "Habari gani?" which means "What's the news?"
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