Jeff Granit Second-graders at Ocean Township Elementary School take part in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony as part of their art class last week.
Kon-nichi-wa is an afternoon hello in Japanese. That is how Barbara Calvo’s second-grade art classes at Ocean Township Elementary School have been greeting each other, bowing in the traditional Japanese way.
Through their weekly art classes, Calvo has introduced the children to the Japanese culture by teaching them various art forms and traditions.
In the class, they have made tea bowls and studied Origami, a technique of folding colored paper into different shapes.
The children made and glazed the clay tea bowls, using the pinch-pot method, then decorated them with designs of bamboo, flowers or dragon flies.
Jeff Granit Katie Mannion and Victoria Cascaes enjoy their tea during the ceremony on Friday.
Nick Ferrara, Zach Bell, Jason Nguyen and Ahmad Khasawnen all chose to embellish bamboo onto their bowls.
On June 12, the origami decorations helped inspire the conversion of the everyday art room into a Japanese tea house, for the Japanese tea ceremony Calvo decided would be a fitting end to the program.
Tables were turned on their sides, forming a secluded replica of a traditional tea house.
Paintings and Japanese pictures accompanied the origami in helping to create the appropriate atmosphere. Flower arrangements incorporating bamboo were also placed in order, from the tallest to the shortest, around the room.
JEFF GRANIT Zach Bell, with teacup in hand, asks for some more “tea” during the traditional Japanese tea ceremony conducted by Ocean Township Elementary School art teacher Barbara Calvo. Instead of green tea, Zach opted for the less traditional apple juice.
Anyone who entered the house had to take their shoes off, out of respect for the ritual.
Intriguing smells of incense, sumi-e brush paintings and a tatami mat, which the students kneeled around, finished off the conversion of the space for the afternoon.
"The program was a continuation from the prior weeks, which included a Japanese artist, who presented the origami technique to students in every grade," Calvo said.
Along with delving into the arts of Japan, the children also learned the traditions of the country, including how to conduct the tea ceremony. When handing out the tea bowls, it is important that the design faces toward the recipient, and when the bowl is returned, the design should be facing away from them.
Calvo passed authentic Japanese sweets to each child, giving them instructions on how to complete the ritual. To follow the tradition, you must place the candy in your mouth, let it dissolve, then take a sip of the bitter tea. With two sips left to go, you take one more and then slurp the last sip. Following these directions, anyone can become a professional.
The children had a great time and enjoyed the tea so much that they were not too shy to ask for seconds.