Johnny and Lucy came to Our Lady Star of the Sea School to teach the children how to play the drums. Johnny started playing the drums when he was five years old. Every child at Our Lady Star of the Sea got a drum. It was an African style hand drum.

Many drums are different sizes and shapes. You can play the drums loudly or softly. You can carry some drums around like in a marching band. Some drums are made out of metal.

Johnny and Lucy did a drum performance. Our Lady Star of the Sea School want Rhythm Interactive to come back again soon.

The drums that Our Lady Star of the Sea children played were covered in goat skins. Johnny and Lucy from Rhythm Interactive showed the children how to play rhythms on the drums.

An unusual thing was that Johnny did not speak to the children, he made them use their brains. He put the rhythms together to make music.

At the end, Johnny and Lucy performed a spectacular drumming show. When they told everyone that they were coming back next year, all the children cheered.

Written by Ethan Po and Todd Griffin

            

          

On Wednesday the 16th March our school was very fortunate to have a visit from "Rhythm Interactive".

The hall floor was covered in a carpet of drums when we walked in. We were asked to quietly sit beside a drum. Lucy and John from Rhythm Interactive explained that a long time ago in Africa when there were no phones people communicated with a 'drum call'. Then Lucy and John started drumming and we had to copy the rhythm.

The amazing thing was that no words were spoken, it was all drumming and actions. Everyone loved it and all did the rhythms really well.

Lucy and John did lots of different rhythms that told different stories. The message was "Actions speak louder than words."

Written by Room 12

            

On Thursday 7 April four of our cultural groups took part in a Cultural Festival run by our school. They, along with all of the other groups also performed for the whole school on Monday 11 April. 
            

Writing by Room 12 

The Talofa dance was all about greeting people who were just arriving on the island. Our hand movements were a welcoming sign. The men had to wear oil on their bodies and wear black skirts.

            
Filipino: Gabriel Largo

The costumes we wore were Warrior costumes and we had sticks as weapons and masks to protect us. The costumes were very colourful. The dance was about a Queen who was carrying a statue of Jesus and the Warriors were protecting her.
            


Special Choir: Gina Berry, Mack Penfold, Molly Burch

Jiggly, jiggly joe! My tummy was wibbly wobbly because I was so nervous. Our first song was " It;s possible for me" from Italy. That was very easy to learn. The one we liked the most was Aotearoa and the easiest one to learn was Sansa Kroma from Africa. At the end the whole school clapped. We were proud we could sing in different languages.

            
Chilean: Mikayla Killop, Sofia Higgott, Leah Dawson, Gemma Holt

The Chilean dance was about farmers who were trying to get attention from the girls. We were shaking with fear on the day. The music started and we walked up on stage. Our hearts were beating fast. We felt proud of ourselves and thought we had danced well. Mrs Griffin was proud of us too.

            
Liturgical Dance: Nicholas Lianto, Danielle Noronha

It was the day we performed in front of the whole school and I was nervous. The pants we had to wear were too big and they felt like they were going to fall off. We did two dances, one was "You Raise Me Up" and "Joyful Joyful". Miss Grey taught us how to move our arms nicely and reverently. Joyful Joyful was a dance for Mary.

            
South African Dance:  Caela Ackerman, Thomas Whal

The dance was about the miners in the mine. They were not allowed to talk to each other while they worked so they communicated by dancing.  Some of the moves were quite tricky to learn. Mrs Dexter was very proud of us.