The Show WILL Go On!

The kids have been putting in a lot of extra concert practice time this week! Mrs. E., our K-1 music teacher, has been gone for almost 2 weeks, and we're not sure when she will be back. First, her mother died, and then she landed in the hospital with pneumonia. So......between the substitute and the 2-6 music teacher (and the kids), we've been figuring out all the songs and getting ready for Tuesday's big performance.

It's tough to stand still on the risers, but we can do it!

It's also hard to remember all those words without a little help from the signs! Some of us have words to say and instruments to play, too.

Isaac has a lot to do during "Aiken Drum." You won't believe his costume!

Here he is! You'll have to wait until Tuesday to find out why he is wearing all this goofy stuff. That's pizza on his vest and tacos on his feet - crazy!

Thanks, Kathy, for all your help with his get-up!

See you all at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29th, in the elementary school gym!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

When will it begin?? The kids were so excited this morning, and also very ready to see the Children's Theater production of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" (see Wednesday's post).

We arrived at the Sheldon in plenty of time for the 10:00 am performance, and after finding our seats in the balcony, we had to wait about 10 minutes until showtime. It was hard to wait!

The stage seemed really far away, but we could tell the setting was the kitchen of the boy's house. I couldn't take pictures during the performance, so since we had a few minutes before showtiome, I went backstage and.....

I got my picture taken with the Mouse, Dean Holt, former 1st grade student of mine (again, see the next post)!!

The show was awesome, and the kids laughed through the whole thing. Ask your child if he/she can tell you at least five funny details from the play, and chances are, you'll hear a lot more than that!

Hint: ask for details about the hair, the bubbles, the hammer and "snails," the refrigerator, the vacuum cleaner, the bucket, the sponges, and changing clothes for naptime, if your child is having a hard time remembering.

The Mouse!

We were very lucky to have a visit today from Dean Holt, who stars as the Mouse in the Children's Theater production of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." The play is on tour now, and all four of the first grade classes are going to see it at the Sheldon on Friday. We gathered in the Music room to hear all about his job as an actor, and also to see how he can make a little mouse come to life. Dean has been acting at the Children's Theater for 15 years, and he has been in 50-60 productions. He was amazing!

Dean was in my class as a first grader 30 years ago! He was a lot shorter then, and he had a lot more hair!
I dug through my old pictures when I got home, and here he is as a first grader.

The kids had a great time listening and watching as Dean talked and answered their questions. Look at all those smiles!

He told them all about how they took a five-minute story and stretched it into an hour-long play. The Mouse and the Boy spent many hours practicing, coming up with funny situations, and experimenting with silly "stuff" before they had the final presentation.

Here he's talking about how he cuts his hair as the Mouse, and how the stage crew blows lots of hair onto the stage for the Mouse to clean up. It will be so much fun for the kids to see the actual scene during the play, especially when the piles of hair chase the Mouse all around the stage!

Here he's showing how his tail gets caught in the vacuum cleaner. It was fun to see how he uses facial expressions and physical actions during the play. He wears lots of padding under his costume so he doesn't get too many bumps and bruises. The kids are soooooo excited for Friday, and they can hardly wait to see what the Mouse looks like in his costume and make-up. Hopefully, I can get a few pictures to post.

Thanks, Dean, for spending your lunch hour sharing with us!

March Students of the Month

Wow, where did March go? It really zoomed by, and although I haven't posted much, we have been very busy with Easter, Spring Break, snow days, and also lots of learning!

Here are our March Students of the Month. We read a story last week that had lots of photographs of children, and in an interview with the photographer, he said he always has his subjects say "snakes" instead of "cheese." We tried that with this picture, and I think it worked pretty well! Look at those great smiles.

We have an exciting week coming up. On Friday, we get to go to the Sheldon Theater to see the Children's Theater production of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," starring CF native Dean Holt, a former student of mine. Watch for pictures next weekend!