It's a SPRING thing

I feel like being a music teacher is a perfect fit for me. I enjoy creating, organizing, being theatrical, and singing. My job encompasses all these things. I also like being in control--and controlling my classroom environment is a huge part of the job! I don't always have it together, and sometimes I feel that I fail, but I'm grateful for the 4-day school weeks, because I get 3 days each weekend to rejuvenate and mentally prepare for the next week. Each Monday I start fresh, despite the mistakes I may have made in the previous week. Spring time is a hectic time at school--there's lots of musical programs so it can be stressful for me, and the kids get spring fever and they start acting all crazy!

 

The 1st graders musical program "Celebrate Spring" was during the 2nd week of April, and was all about Spring. I conceptualized this program 3 years ago when I started working at the school in this job. I ask the students 3 questions: "What happens in spring?", "What do you like to do in the spring?", and "What's your favorite part about spring?". From their own answers, I pick one that they get to say during the program. Then I group those answers together with other students' answers into sections. Each section correlates with a song that I choose to go along with their answers. Even though this is the third time that I've done with the 1st graders, it's a completely different program each time because the answers are always different, so the songs are different. This year, we did 9 songs and 2 speech pieces. Each child says their part in the microphone, then has a prop to hold during one of the songs, so they all have 2 special things they do during the program. It's a fun program to participate in for them, and it's neat to watch, too.

 I never want the stage to look identical to previous year's productions of the same program, so I always change it up a little. This year, I hung the "Spring" signs that I made last year from the ceiling, and I added a few floral-patterned tablecloths to the walls to add more color to the stage.

Behind the risers where they stand is a short wall to hide the helper and tables with all the props. This year, the 1st graders have a para that helps one of the classes, so she was my behind-the-scenes girl instead of volunteer 4th grade students like I've had in the past. She was a huge help to me! It's impossible for me to be in the front (directing the students), and in the back (making sure they have the right props and appear at the right time), at the same time!

The students had 2 showings, one for other kids in the school, and one for their parents. Both of these performances were on the same day: the student show after lunch, and the parent show at the end of the day. The school showing was difficult for me to watch. I can compare it to a swarm of bees--from far away, it looks like one solid group, but upon closer inspection, you can see each bee moving and buzzing. The kids were SOO wound up, that they couldn't hold still on the stage. They were wiggly and squirmy and touching each other and making noises and it was hard for them to focus on what was going on in the program. This is one of the reasons why I like to have a preview show for other students before they perform for their parents, to work out all the nervous bugs! The show for the parents was practically flawless, and I was so amazed and proud of them for the performance that they gave. I couldn't believe the difference between the two shows, and I was extremely happy to see them do so well at the program that they'd written and practiced for 2 months!