Today we read a folktale from the Ashanti people of Ghana, Africa. The book is about a spider named Anansi who has six special sons that save him from trouble. To thank his sons, Anansi wants to give them an orb of glowing light but because he cannot decide which son really deserves it most, he asks the sky god to hold it and it becomes the moon. In the book, the very graphic pictures use shapes to change the emotions on Anansi’s face. We all made our own Anansi spiders using shapes, carefully counting eight legs for each. We used different shapes and colors to express different feelings. As students finished, they travelled to the carpet where Mr. Egilman taught them a relaxation technique of African drumming on a friend’s back. You lightly and rhythmically tap on the person’s back while they say “ahhh.” One more technique that kindergartners can use together to “take a breath.”