Difficulties .....

There are always difficulties when working with children. One of them being motivation. Motivating kids to keep doing something they like with so many distractions in their lives isnt always easy. Especially when you add distractions.

Samba is like a sport. It takes a team that works together and practices. A team that is motivated and dedicated. Focus is the Key to Samba and world music. We care about these children, so much so that we want to see them pursue anything with out giving up. We understand that often times we might come across as mean or tough.  That it starts to become too much. What most do not see is that these kids are learning music that is not very easy to play. They are not just learning how to play music by sound but they are learning how to read music as well. It takes time and hard work to play the kinds of rhythms and breaks that our children are learning to play. These children also play more than just one instruments most of our kids can play up to 3 to 4 instruments which is not easy to do. Our little kids are learning to listen to the rhythms and beats being played and put it to movement. Some of our dancers have contributed to dance routines.

We understand that a big frustration with our families is homework. Please be assured that ALL the Samba Kids are given time to work on homework after Samba. A typical samba day starts off with students and mentors taking out the instruments and laying them in playing order, we then stretch and warm up. We review and learn new music. On Wednesdays, we start with stretches , warm up and then we review and learn new steps.at last we close with a our samba circle where we recite In Lak'ech. We then join the rest of Cub Club and have snack. During and after snack ALL samba students are given the time to work on homework.

We want parents and families to know that we value education. We know and understand that home work is important and needs to be completed. The kids are asked if they have homework, and most of the kids let us know if they have home work that needs to be finished.

part of our commitment is to work close with families. To help each other in the development of the students lives. To work together to help them succeed.