Thursday, April 1, 2010
Comin To America!
In order to post about the showcase i decided to just copy and paste the paper i had to write about it, and include pics!
It was such an awesome night, i still smile while thinking about it, and i can't believe how many people came, and the turn out! it was exactly how i wanted it to go!
Emily Zilles
Honors Service Project
March 30, 2010
I work for the Palstep program at Lincoln elementary. It is a remarkable opportunity to be so involved with the students on such an individual level. I have been really involved in many aspects of the elementary school, and at the beginning of the semester I decided I wanted to use the school as my service project. The palstep program is funded by a 5 year grant, called the 21st century grant. Part of the requirements for this grant includes a yearly parent night. However, Lincoln Elementary wasn’t planning on having one this year. So, I took it upon myself to plan it. I started preparations in January at the beginning of the semester. I wanted to not only accomplish a parent night, but I wanted to get the kids involved with their parents, I wanted to get parents there, and I wanted it to be an interactive night focused around family unity. When I presented the idea to Pete Coulson, he said he thought it was a wonderful idea however he didn’t think I would be able to get parents to attend. I took this as a challenge and set out to prove him wrong.
I started out by deciding on a theme and went from there. The theme I chose was “Coming to America”, taken from the song by Neil Diamond. I decided the best way to get parental support and attendance was to have the kids perform something. I found three patriotic songs which are classics and started to teach the kids the words and some dance moves to them. I worked on it with them every Monday-Thursday until last Thursday the night of the performance. My second through third graders performed “God Bless the USA”, by Lee Greenwood. My K-1st graders sang “This land is your land”. For the fourth and fifth graders I choreographed a dance. In the beginning they hated me, the kids thought it was the worst thing anyone could ever make them do. However, I was determined to follow through.
Through February and March I involved quite a few other honors students in my planning and they were a big help to me as we planned and prepared. I had a girl come in and help teach the kindergarteners and first graders their song. I also had some other volunteers come in and help teach dances and songs. I worked hand in hand with Pete and Abby (directors of Palstep) in coordinating plans, figuring out money decorations, and other details.
I was really nervous about how it would all work out. Knowing that the success of the night would by determined by the amount of people who came, but I also knew that even if one student came it would have been worth it. The week of the performance I went shopping with Abby and we bought decorations and treats, and everything we needed to use for the night of. The night of March 25th we started at 7:00 p.m. By 6:30 the halls were filled with people already there. I was thrilled with the turn out. I also had about 8 honors volunteers there to help.
We started the program with the K-1st graders singing. Then the second-third graders. We ended the performance with the big finale, the 4th-5th graders! They did a phenomenal job! What started out with being what the kids thought was torture ended up being their favorite thing. I only had about 10 kids total missing, and none of them wanted it to end.
They all asked what songs we were learning next! After the performance we broke up into stations. We had a cookie making station, a craft station, a board game station, we had a family picture booth, a big fun parachute in the gym and in the music room they were able to learn a new dance. It was so successful! As I walked around making sure everything was running smoothly I saw parents interacting with their children, and children having fun. I saw CSI volunteers making new friends with little kids, and I saw smiles on faces as students were able to introduce their parents to me. 
It was such a big success. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole night. All my hard work really did pay off. The best part though wasn’t so much that all my hard work didn’t go to waste but more so as I walked around I saw the effects of family interaction. It was such a wonderful night! I would do it again, every year in a heartbeat. The key was to get the kids involved and excited , and a lot of advertizing! We made a lot of very sparkly posters. Overall it was more fun than it was hard work, and I’m so glad I did it!
It was awesome! and SOOO much fun!
Emily
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