End of Year Concert

For a month, every day, we (my class and I) prepared and practiced for the End of Year Concert. I chose "Christmas Star", a John Burland song that I had performed at PJPII as our performance piece. I love it because it has a great beat, fabulous actions, and it tells the story of the Nativity.


The kids dress up as the nativity characters and we act out the story as we go along. The end has a surprise as one student pops out as the Christmas star to complete the scene.


I asked Reg, the school's part time music instructor and performing artist (he's performed at the Sydney Opera House AND with famous artists) to help me by critiquing our performance once a week and to make suggestions. Wow! He was terrific and was able to pick out details that I would not notice in order to polish our peformance to "professional" standards.
When the day of the concert finally arrived, we were SO ready! In costume and with our props, the kids were lined up to go onstage. I was hurrying around to get the stable and straw bales on the stage. I lifted the bales one at a time and placed them on the stage. As I set down the third and final bale, I felt that familiar grab and jolt that takes your breath away and I knew ... I threw my back out. I bit back tears and put my class on the risers for their dress rehearsal performance for the school. I videotaped the performance and it is a good thing because I never made it to the actual concert.
Please check the link below to see the rehearsal. The kids did a beautiful job at the concert and the show went on. I am really proud of how well they performed.





Jacob was also involved in the end of year concert. His class performed a choral reading of "The Night Before Christmas" and also did a fabulous job. Luckily, I managed to videotape his performance at the rehearsal as well. You can check it out here. Jacob is in the top right side of his class - wearing a Santa hat, a red shirt and green shorts. I was really proud to see him out there and not trying to hide in the crowd as he has done in the past. :)