AMORE du TOIT/Elementary News
Making a joyful noise is a very appropriate thing to do in spring when nature is waking up after a long (too long) winter snooze. Our show choir did not make noise but rather beautiful music.
The 22-member Show Choir, under the direction of Tricia Kirby, and accompanied by Beth L.nes, performed three pieces at the Stettler music festival on Friday, April 15. The adjudicator said that the choir had “confident singing with good harmony” and that our presentation was “well prepared and a fun performance to watch!”
On Tuesday, April 19, the 22 choir members celebrated the end of another successful year with an “Ice Cream Sundae and Awards Party.” Every choir member received a certificate and students who participated in show choir for all of Grade 4 and all of Grade 5 was presented with a trophy. Choir members who made the extra effort to attend all rehearsals were also awarded with a “Faithful Attendance Pencil”. Special congratulations go to Melissa Smith for having PERFECT attendance as she did not miss one rehearsal all year long!
The festival wind-up concert was held on Monday, April 18. All classes did a magnificent job performing their festival pieces. The variety, quality and sheer delight of all the performances were enjoyed by appreciative parents in the gym.
Tuesday and Wednesday were busy at lunch hour with dinner theatre. The choral speech students from grades 4 and 5 presented their scenes that they had prepared for the Stettler Music Festival. Students from ECS to Grade 5 were entertained by hockey players, mud puddles, ghost stories and birthday parties. Congratulations to all the actors for a great job at both festival and dinner theatre. Some Grade 1 students had fun celebrating Easter with their high school buddies. The high school students gave each Grade 1 student a bunny made out of a washcloth with a yummy treat inside. In return, the young ones had fun hiding chocolate eggs for their buddies. Afterwards, the students worked together to decorate a gigantic foam egg for the seniors at Pine Ridge and Heritage House.
The following day some students enjoyed visiting with the seniors, singing their festival song, playing a math game and sharing a book together. During the math game, the students were surprised at how well many of the seniors still remembered their addition math facts. Thanks to the hospital for allowing the Grade 1s to visit!
The three day kindergarten classes of Amore du Toit and Sandra Norman also enjoyed a very fun and educational alphabet Easter egg hunt. Students were assigned to look for eggs with a certain letter of the alphabet printed on the shell. Once all the eggs were collected, the eggs were opened to reveal a coded message inside. Students had fun decoding the message that led them to their treasure.
Stettler elementary acknowledged Earth Day on Thursday, April 21, by engaging students in various earth-friendly activities. Students once again participated in “Lights Out Canada” and limited their electricity usage by turning off unnecessary lighting and opening up classroom blinds for the day. To further decrease our environmental impact, students were encouraged to bring a ‘litterless lunch. Not only did students produce less garbage, but they also noticed that their lunches were healthier. Our students were amazed to learn that simple changes can collectively have a huge impact.