Evergreen Students Get a Kick out of Diversity Lesson

Beginning of article

Byline: Karen Kutz Daily Herald Staff Writer

East met West at Evergreen Elementary School in Carol Stream recently as students, teachers and parents celebrated "Taste of the Orient."

Students learned how to write haikus, a form of Japanese poetry, and participated in the ancient paper-folding art known as origami.

They sang songs through a karaoke machine, played Far Eastern games like fish painting and watched burly men in white robes break boards with their bare hands.

"I liked the martial arts the best," said 9-year-old third-grader Brett Kmowich.

For months, school staff, parents and students planned for the event held Friday as an educational alternative to traditional Halloween school parties.

Students, who wore self-made headbands with oriental lettering, also listened to stories about the Far East and dined on fried rice and fortune cookies.

They had to eat the rice with …