First Lobster
Today was the Year 5 Christmas play. It was your usual Christmas play: Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, shepherds, an angel, Santa, elves, Christmas shoppers, stars, robots, aliens, astronauts, and mechanics. I know what you're thinking... "No lobster?!?"
Love Actually is one of my very favorite films, and this opening scene is one of my favorite bits.
No, there were no lobsters in our Christmas play and although the cast seems quite bizarre, it was a very cute story line. The astronauts were on a mission around Christmas time and ended up crash landing on Zork, a strange planet. The aliens that lived on the planet ended up being rather friendly and they were very curious about Christmas. After sharing with them about Christmas - everything from Santa to tasty food to presents to decorations to the birth of Jesus - the aliens offered to fly the astronauts home, but only if they could come and experience Christmas as well.
The songs were fun and spirited. "Here's a little ditty about Christmas, we all get giddy at Christmas..." I'm afraid many of the songs will be stuck in my head for weeks to come.
At my home school, the fourth graders put on a Christmas musical each year, and I must confess that I was really a little sad thinking I would not do a holiday musical this year. I was thrilled when I learned that we would be doing one, but a little terrified about some of the differences! At home, our incredible music teacher works with the kids, starting in about October. My job comes much later, in December, when we begin our whole cast play practices. My job the last few years has been to hit the next button on the iPod. That's it. Hailey teaches the kids the songs, the dances, organizes their costumes, assigns roles to the kids, organizes props and decorations. Yes, I know, she is truly amazing. For this Year 5 production, we, the classroom teachers had to do all that! I was not accustomed to that! Thankfully a fellow teammate has incredible organization and energy and did a beautiful job of leading the production, but I was definitely much more involved than I am used to being. And the incredible music teacher at Fulbrook was a huge help in teaching the kids the music!
My class dressed up as stars and went on stage for a sweet, slow song about the beauty of a starry night. I was in charge of coming up with a dance for them. I worked on one and thought I had a great idea, but it just did not go over well. Obviously that was not something I'm accustomed to doing, and I struggled! In the end, most of my stars sat or stood on stage and just "twinkled" with their hands. It sounds too simple, but even that was somewhat complicated... But hey, it turned out quite lovely!
It was fun though, working with the kids from the beginning, seeing how in just a few weeks and a full day of practicing today, they could produce a spectacular show! The kids put energy into it and their costumes were very impressive! I loved watching the kids perform and smile as they caught a glimpse of their parents. Despite all the nagging and strong words of "encouragement," the kids turned out a beautiful performance, as they always do. I was very proud of them!
While this blog is mainly about an "Out of this World Christmas," I couldn't talk about my day without mentioning Christmas dinner. Today at lunch was the annual Christmas dinner (lunch) provided by the school cafeteria. The food was quite a treat - turkey, sausage, potatoes, peas, carrots and even brussels sprouts. While the meal was good, it was everything else that made it so special.
Most of the teachers typically eat lunch in the staff room each day, chit chatting as we eat. But today, the library was set up especially for us - a long table complete with festive table cloth. We all got to sit together, enjoying our meal and catching up on the day. We popped Christmas crackers at the beginning of the meal so that we could all wear our crowns, play with our toys and share our corny jokes during the meal. We drank wine, mimosas and fruit juices with our meal as Christmas music played in the background. (Yes my American teacher friends, we drank wine with lunch at school!) We ate, we laughed, we told stories, we poked fun at each other - it was almost like a big family dinner, one that I was thankful to have been a part of.
Today was certainly a day full of new, wonderful ways to celebrate the holiday I love so much!
Love Actually is one of my very favorite films, and this opening scene is one of my favorite bits.
No, there were no lobsters in our Christmas play and although the cast seems quite bizarre, it was a very cute story line. The astronauts were on a mission around Christmas time and ended up crash landing on Zork, a strange planet. The aliens that lived on the planet ended up being rather friendly and they were very curious about Christmas. After sharing with them about Christmas - everything from Santa to tasty food to presents to decorations to the birth of Jesus - the aliens offered to fly the astronauts home, but only if they could come and experience Christmas as well.
The songs were fun and spirited. "Here's a little ditty about Christmas, we all get giddy at Christmas..." I'm afraid many of the songs will be stuck in my head for weeks to come.
At my home school, the fourth graders put on a Christmas musical each year, and I must confess that I was really a little sad thinking I would not do a holiday musical this year. I was thrilled when I learned that we would be doing one, but a little terrified about some of the differences! At home, our incredible music teacher works with the kids, starting in about October. My job comes much later, in December, when we begin our whole cast play practices. My job the last few years has been to hit the next button on the iPod. That's it. Hailey teaches the kids the songs, the dances, organizes their costumes, assigns roles to the kids, organizes props and decorations. Yes, I know, she is truly amazing. For this Year 5 production, we, the classroom teachers had to do all that! I was not accustomed to that! Thankfully a fellow teammate has incredible organization and energy and did a beautiful job of leading the production, but I was definitely much more involved than I am used to being. And the incredible music teacher at Fulbrook was a huge help in teaching the kids the music!
My class dressed up as stars and went on stage for a sweet, slow song about the beauty of a starry night. I was in charge of coming up with a dance for them. I worked on one and thought I had a great idea, but it just did not go over well. Obviously that was not something I'm accustomed to doing, and I struggled! In the end, most of my stars sat or stood on stage and just "twinkled" with their hands. It sounds too simple, but even that was somewhat complicated... But hey, it turned out quite lovely!
It was fun though, working with the kids from the beginning, seeing how in just a few weeks and a full day of practicing today, they could produce a spectacular show! The kids put energy into it and their costumes were very impressive! I loved watching the kids perform and smile as they caught a glimpse of their parents. Despite all the nagging and strong words of "encouragement," the kids turned out a beautiful performance, as they always do. I was very proud of them!
While this blog is mainly about an "Out of this World Christmas," I couldn't talk about my day without mentioning Christmas dinner. Today at lunch was the annual Christmas dinner (lunch) provided by the school cafeteria. The food was quite a treat - turkey, sausage, potatoes, peas, carrots and even brussels sprouts. While the meal was good, it was everything else that made it so special.
Most of the teachers typically eat lunch in the staff room each day, chit chatting as we eat. But today, the library was set up especially for us - a long table complete with festive table cloth. We all got to sit together, enjoying our meal and catching up on the day. We popped Christmas crackers at the beginning of the meal so that we could all wear our crowns, play with our toys and share our corny jokes during the meal. We drank wine, mimosas and fruit juices with our meal as Christmas music played in the background. (Yes my American teacher friends, we drank wine with lunch at school!) We ate, we laughed, we told stories, we poked fun at each other - it was almost like a big family dinner, one that I was thankful to have been a part of.
Today was certainly a day full of new, wonderful ways to celebrate the holiday I love so much!
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