“Keep a poem in your pocket

And a picture in your head

And you’ll never feel lonely

At night when you’re in bed.

The little poem will sing to you

The little picture bring to you

A dozen dreams to dance to you

At night when you’re in bed.”

The lawnmower chomps up grass
and gulps it down.
“I want more!”

“I have no food in my empty tummy!”
“I want more food!”

It has a long nose like an anteater
which it sniffs up long grass with.
“Vrrrooom, sniff, vrrrrooom, sniff!”

It runs really fast
down the front and back lawn.
Vroom, vroom- racing like a roller skater.

It angrily steps on flowers
and when it leaves the flowers are gone.
It’s a clear, empty field or plain.

When it leaves
the tall grass is gone
and in its place there’s short, fresh, new lawn!

It cleans up the streets
like people on Earth Day.

It rumbles
like a hungry stomach.

It gulps snow…
“Gullllpp!”

It rakes
like neighbors in fall.

It has a big, yellow snout
like a monster.

“HUNGRY FOR MORE!” says the snowplow.

Uuuuummmmm! I’m hungry for dinner!
Someone please turn me on!
Click.
Finally! I’m on!
I’m sliding on the rug like an ice skater.
I’m looking for crumbs
Hunting and searching with my eagle eyes on the hunt.
Wait! There are some crumbs in the corner!
“I’m full!”
Please empty my stomach.
I need surgery!

The pencil sharpener gulps up wood from the pencil.
YUM! YUM!
Pencil sharpener wants more. “I WANT MORE!”
The handle from the pencil sharpener rolls all around
Like a person somersaulting.
Pencil sharpener still isn’t full.
I shake and gobble up more pencil shavings.
YUM! YUM!
Now I am full… no more!
I spit it all out.

“Click, click” goes the stapler
As it puts things together.
“Mmmm, I want to staple more!”
It releases it’s babies,
“Bye bye babies, I will miss you!”
Its mouth chews on paper corners.
BOOM! Goes the stapler like a person stamping.
“Munch, munch” don’t get near my teeth!

Clap, Clap goes Ms. Cristella
“Take out your word work notebook
and take home folder.”

Stomp, stomp
go the students feet to their cubbbies.

Zip, Zip
Chatter, Chatter
Ms. Cristella reads a story.

Beep, beep
Mrs. Fischer calls, “Bus One is here.”

Thump, thump
Feet in the hallways.

“All the buses have been called.
Teachers please bring your bus cards down.”

Click, Clack go the jump ropes when they hit the ground.
Pow, pow go the balls when they bounce.
Knock, knock go the hula hoops
when they bump into the other children.

“Aaaaahhhhh!!!”
go the children when they are playing tag.
Boom! Bang! “I got you!” say the children playing 4 square.
“Ha, ha you missed me!” say the children when they get dodged.

“Ooooooohhhhh…”
Go the children when it’s time to go back in.

DOOSH! BOOM! Goes the kid’s foot kicking the ball.
Whhhhhh- it soars through the air.
Boing, boing bounces the ball.
Chic, chick… I got it! OUT! OUT!
Click clack, click clack go the kids’ feet.
“It’s a foul! You’re out!”
Squeak, squeak
The kicker runs out.
Dum, dum, dum, roll… Mr. Farrell pitches the ball.
DOOM! BOOM! HOMERUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bump, bump goes the volleyball.
Stomp, stomp goes the kids when they are playing recycling.
Boom, boom goes the ball all around the gym.
“Ommmmm, Ommmm” go the kids when they do resting yoga.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Go the kids driving.
“HANDS UP!” says Mr. Farrell.
La, la, la goes the music when we are playing!
Woo-woo goes the whistle when Mrs. Brennan is blowing it…
Finally we line up.

BOOM! Went the basketball.
Vrroom! Vrroom! Went the children for driving lessons.
Pow, pow! Went the big volleyball around the room.
“Time to line up!” said Mr. Farrell.

Whish! Went the water
Squeeeek! Went the grip of the metal handle.
TING! Went the drip on the metal.
Bshoo! Went the drain water.

Oh! The kitten was born.
“Meow!” “Meow!” goes the kitten wanting food.
“Hiss!” the kitten hunts.
“Shhh, shh” a kitten is sleeping.

“Splash, splat!” paint goes on my paper.
“Chat, whisper, chat…”
Mrs. Barrett says, “Table one line up!”
Art is done.

Here’s the weather for today…
“It’s going to be a freezing day today.”
“Aaaahh!” go the people when they see the camera.

“Stomp, stomp” go the feet down the stairs to Mrs. G’s room.
“Quiet down, class has begun.” Mrs. G says.
“La, la, la” we start singing.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
We sing, “RESPECT” our concert song.
RED!
Lalalala…

“Whoosh, whoosh” go the kids down the slide.
Boing, boing, boing go the balls when they bounce.
“Bonk, ouch!”
A kid falls off the slide and lands on his bottom and starts to cry.
“Stomp, stomp, stomp,” go the kids when have to go in.

We saw a show with people from Ghana, Africa. They were the Ishangi family dancers. We are writing more to tell you about their heritage. The schools are very small and kids have to work a lot. Kids come in early to clean up the school because there are no custodians. Something interesting is the older kids carry their desks home on school vacations so they don’t get stolen. Most people in Ghana’s schools can’t afford food or lunch so people serve food for them. People in Ghana grow crops to get food. They also eat rice.

After school kids play lots of simple games. They have no electricity so they can’t play any electronic games. One of the games is the bottlecap game. You win by flicking your bottlecap onto your opponent’s bottlecap. They play volleyball and pretend there is a net. There is a season where it hardly rains so kids play games in the shade.

Another thing we learned from the Ishangi Family Dancers and their heritage is they sing and dance when they do chores. We learned a lot form the Ishangi family dancers.

We went to see the Ishangi family presentation. They showed us stories from Ghana by dancing. It was so exciting to see the laundry dance because a little girl had a giant laundry bag balanced on her head! I was wondering if it was heavy or not. During one song that same girl did flips and cartwheels. They sang Che Che Koolay and did a dance. Che Che Koolay means to thank God for food and for clothes and other things. They also taught us how to do the love and family dance. In the family dance they passed love energy on and a girl stood on top of a woman. In the food dance the girl acts like she’s passing out seeds and they grow. She danced with a plate. At the end, one of the Ishangi women gave us good advice how we should live our lives. The most important thing was to stay in school and listen to your mom and dad and teachers.

The main idea is about the favorite things of the Ishangi family and their people. The people balanced laundry on their heads. They are very good at balancing! We enjoyed the loud drums. They had lots of rhythm. They sang a song called Che Che Koolay. It is a good song about being thankful. The mom was talking to spirits. When the mother didn’t have energy the girl would dance and shake the maraca and the mother would get her energy from that. The mom was in a puffy African costume with a mask on to talk to spirits. The mom did cartwheels and tagged the girl and she did them.
We enjoyed the Ishangi family dancers from Ghana, Africa.

The Ishangi family dancers have lots of instruments to play. The drums have a strong beat. The little kids use the drum sticks to bang on the drums. The adults play hard and fast using drum sticks or their hands. They use animal skins and wood to make their drums. The women carry gourd shakers to different places because it is light. A gourd shaker is a squash that is dried for 6 months. There is a net with beads and when you rub it against the surface it makes a sound. Another instrument is the bells on their feet. Each bell bracelet represents 1 person in their family.

The Ishangi family instruments help play different sounds and beats. Music is very important to the people of Ghana.