Submitted by Kerryn Oliver, Iowa

Idea posted August 19, 2009

For our spring concert, we wanted to emphasize a theme of friendship. The fifth grade served as emcees, and also shared a portion of a paper they wrote on one of three topics: "My friend is..., " "I am a friend when...," and "Friendship means... ." Each class sang one song about friendship, then the entire elementary sang together while we played a movie of photos submitted by teachers of every student in the elementary with their friends / classmates / reading buddies / staff members. It was incredibly well-received! Here's the program: (Fourth grade is not included; they presented their recorder program during this concert.)

5th grade: "Friends On Our Left And Friends On Our Right" - Gallina

3rd grade: "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music

2nd grade: "You Gave Me Your Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie" Music K-8, Vol. 12, No. 3

1st grade: "Good Friends Always Stick Together"

Kindergarten: "I Have A Friend" Music K-8, Vol. 12, No. 3

All kids sang during the movie:

"Kindness" from Music K-8, Vol. 17, No. 3

"Make New Friends" from Music K-8, Vol. 7, No. 3

"Talkin' About My Friend" from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 3

We had both tears and laughter - and a very fun evening!