Gateway Longview celebrated Black History Month throughout February with various activities including inspired door decorations created by the youth, a “Lantern Project”, recipe books, fun fact sheets, black history trivia, morning video announcements with students creating short videos of inspirational quotes and more .
“Lantern Project”: Created by teacher JJ Duval having students highlight historical figures of the Underground Railroad / Abolitionist Movement. The project included using 4 “panes of glass”:
1 pane = Picture of the person;
1 pane = Map of location/escape route etc.;
1 pane = Biographical information;
1 pane = How they escaped/what they did afterwards.
Evolution of Step: All youth attended for 45 minutes; watched videos of the Zulu Tribe doing a war dance, Dance Afrika reenact traditional African dances, and then a scene from Stomp the Yard showed youth the most recent form of step. Youth enjoyed watching the progression of step and had fun practicing their own moves as well.
Lift Every Voice and Sing *Remix*: All youth attended for 30 minutes; listened to the original version of the song along with a hip-hop version that the youth could base theirs off of.
Adrinka Sponge Stamps: Youth had fun taking sponge cut outs of a moon (), a pillar (rhythm), a heart (love), a rounded X (strength), and a crescent moon (patience). Some worked together on the same paper with different colored paints to create a unique pattern; others worked individually using their own imagination and creativity to replicate the patterns the Asante of Ghana would make on fabric in the past.
Black History Trivia: Youth worked together with their team to get the most answers right. They had a blast learning new things, celebrated their wins, and had fantastic sportsmanship along the way. Fun fact: did you know Snoop Doggs best friend is Martha Stewart? Our youth did!
Cornbread baking: Youth attempted to make some delicious cornbread and did a great job working together to mix up the batter to a perfect consistency. Everything went well and the muffins tasted amazing! The only drawback was: they didn’t look so pretty! But all the youth tried it and said they tasted much better than they looked. Well done to our bakers! And a big thank you to Ms. Shay for sharing some baking secrets that made took the muffins to the next level!
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