AAPI Heritage Month Around Our Schools

AAPI Heritage Month Around Our Schools
Posted on 06/05/2023
Throughout the month of May, in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, students engaged in activities including assemblies, projects and more highlighting contributions of the AAPI community. Throughout classrooms, students were introduced to the range of countries in the Asia and Pacific islands. Through morning announcements, read-alouds videos and more, students learned about the cultures, traditions, history and heritage of the AAPI community. 

Edgemont hosted Korean Traditional Dance of Choomnoori (KTDOC), an evening event for students and families. KTDOC was founded in the U.S. in 2008 by Director Eunhee Ahn. KTDOC has been actively expanding the reach of Korean culture through many channels including establishing Korean dance classes in both public and private schools to promote Korean culture and participating in multicultural events. Families and students also sampled delicious food and drink! Don's Chicken provided many different tasty treats through the evening event! Bullock also brough KTDOC in for a schoolwide assembly that featured ancient drumming rituals. Students even had a chance to participate themselves. 

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For AAPI Heritage Month Hillside and Watchung held assemblies with UP Rondalla, an official performing group of the University of the Philippines.They spoke to the students about the Philippines and its rich culture. They also gave a musical demonstration. The term rondalla refers to the native Philippine string ensemble and consists of instruments such as bandurria, laud, mandala, octavina and bass.

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In addition to the school wide assembly for some heritage month Hillside conducts a free Pop Up series where a smaller group of students could participate in fun/educational activities surrounding the month. Hillside partnered with Montclair State University and AAPI Montclair to conduct an afterschool enrichment which featured Chinese craft making, Korean K-Pop dancing and Japanese snack making. 

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During AAPI month, the Hillside Mandarin program explored authentic singing and dancing <幸福的脸> which was presented by Hillside Mandarin students during Hillside International Night and a popular Chinese school kids rap known as "拍手歌". These allowed our students to im-merse themselves in the rich cultural expressions of AAPI heritage.In addition, we compared some of AAPI cuisines to the familiar foods our students encounter in their daily lives. Through engaging stories, Google slides presentation, and food sampling during Hillside International Night, our young learners delved into the world of AAPI culinary tradi-tions. 

Nishuane held an assembly with performers from The Diversity Center which showcased the art of Philippine shadow boxing and led the audience in an interactive Indian dance experience.

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In honor of AAPI month, Buzz  Aldrin students were able to listen to readings and view depictions of scenarios from Marina Budhos’ novel, We Are All We Have. The Luna Stage group did an excellent job of bringing the novel to life! Afterwards, our students were able to ask the actors, actresses, and author questions during a Q&A session. 
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