Yesterday was the big day! Two performances of our musical play, The Rainbow Fish! The students were thrilled. They shared how exciting it was for them to be on stage in front of their peers and families. Some students said they didn’t feel confident at first, but with all the rehersals and practice time, their confidence grew. I was just thrilled to watch this transformation!
Here is a video from the morning performance. What fun we had!
The kindergartners are still glowing from the excitement our musical play performance created! We are astounded by what the classes accomplished in three short weeks. Ordinary Mary’s and Ordinary Jerry’s Extraordinary Deed taught an important lesson that the students will hopefully remember to use in their own lives: a child’s compassion and good deeds CAN change the world.
“Blueberry Hill”
I brought my old school Blackberry in for Dr. Tom to use….he got such a kick out of it!
“Honesty, is such a lovely word. And that is what I heard from you….”
I want to give a BIG thank you to Ms. Atkinson for her clever song writing and adaptations of the book and music. It was extra fun for me to work with music that was recognizable and so upbeat. And, who doesn’t love a little Billy Joel?!
Here is a link to ms. Atkinson’s blog…she has some additional video footage you will enjoy.
Eleanor and Teddy Roosevelt
Musical plays have been a passion of mine since the beginning of my teaching career. In fact, when I was in graduate school, my masters thesis was centered on the importance of musical plays in elementary school classrooms. Team building, language acquisition, critical thinking, public speaking, creativity, and more are skills involved in the production of a musical play. Each year I look forward to producing a musical play with the kindergarten class. Our play this year is adapted from a book we used during Swooper Citizens….we will unveil more information soon!
Last week, the Lower School was treated to a musical play performance by the third graders as part of a unit of study. First, the class researched an famous inventor, Walt Disney. In addition to traditional research, the third grade class also took a field trip to Disneyland to learn more about Walt’s life accomplishments. They then became inventors themselves, engineering something to use at home that will make their lives easier. The culminating activity for this unit was a performance of the musical play, Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century. Through this play, we learned about Americans who made notable contributions to our country. Included in this were the Wright Brothers, Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, and many more. Here are a few videos from this educational and entertaining performance:
It was definitely fun to see the third graders personalities shine through!
Not only do musical plays provide students with opportunities for team building and expressive interactions, but students internalize and remember history, in this case, through active learning. Musical plays help students take their learning to the next level! Well done third graders and Mrs. Green!
We did some more work on costumes!
We added some eyes. Each student was in charge of placing their eyes exactly where they wanted them to go.
The jellies started to make their jelly umbrellas.
And the sea stars added stomachs and rays.
The angel fish added stripes.
Less than one week to go!