Lakeview Elementary Portuguese Cultural Day

September 17th, 2018 /
Madison Bliss /
Elementary School, Lakeview, Schools

Sounds of the Rainforest come alive as the students of Lakeview Elementary jam out on drums and a variety of percussion instruments. They play to celebrate the Portuguese culture, as it remains a large part of the school. As a participant in Utah’s Dual Immersion Program, Lakeview focuses on in integrating Portuguese into different aspects of their learning environment.

One special way to integrate other cultures is through music. Today, DrumBus, an organization that aims to provide learning through playing drums, joins us at Lakeview to help in the celebration. Logan Mckinney, the Music Specialist at Lakeview, explains that having the DrumBus come is a great opportunity for the students to learn new music and have fun.

However, the DrumBus is only the beginning of the festivities. Throughout the day students will get to play games and participate in activities from Brazil during their recess hour. After this, a Carnival Parade involving the whole school will commence. While walking in the parade, students will get to wear masks they have previously decorated with feathers and rhinestones. Later in the afternoon, families can join the students for after-school festivities including capoeira demonstrations and different food trucks.

While this is only their first official Portuguese celebration, Lakeview hopes to continue the tradition in years to come. Doing so will create opportunities for students to learn about and participate in other cultural festivities.