Teddy Bear Picnic
Thursday morning's field trip to Grand Rapids Christian High School was a much better outing than the prior one I had chaperoned. This time, I rode the bus with the children helping to keep Ms. Ewing's second grade class somewhat under control. I am extremely impressed with this teacher. I have observed her on several different occasions and she demonstrates such a quiet confidence. She has hand signals she uses with her children, she does not raise her voice, and they follow her lead very well ~ not perfectly by any means, but at least there is control to the chaos, and she is definitely in charge.
The Grand Rapids Symphony was hosting an event called, "Teddy Bear Picnic." The conductor was a marvelous fellow who enthusiastically greeted this auditorium filled with children! He briefly introduced the various sections of the orchestra: the folk in red shirts were the STRINGS, the folk in aqua shirts were PERCUSSION, the yellow ones were WOODWINDS, and the blue ones were BRASS.
Each child was given a small plastic kazoo as they filed in to be seated. The conductor told them he was going to teach them a song and they could all be part of the orchestra!
The conductor brought his favorite stuffed bears along and introduced them to everyone. There was White Bear, Brown Bear, Blue Bear, and FRED (the purple one). Sitting at most of the orchestra members' feet were stuffed bears they had brought as well.
The concert began with, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and it was a sing-a-long! The children loved it! And then the conductor asked,"What else always shows up at a picnic?" Which led right into all of us singing, "The Ant Song." Then Bassoon Bear (in the picture below) came on stage and did a number to show us HOW LOW a bassoon could go ... but Bassoon Bear had to be encouraged by the children to play because he wasn't feeling well today. So all of the children had to yell very loudly, "PLEASE, MR. BASSOON BEAR, PLEASE PLAY FOR US!!"
One of the funnest things the orchestra did was to tell the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." They had a very fine narrator read the story, and the instruments joined in at just the right times ~ Papa Bear was played by the bassoon and the bass violin, the cello and oboe (I think) played the part of Mama Bear, and when Baby Bear was mentioned, the piccolo and soft bells would play! They did such a great job with it!
The children were delighted! Look at Destiny's happy face! The kazoo song came near the end, but most of the children attempted to play their kazoos throughout the entire concert. It was a bit of a challenge to keep them quiet until called upon!
The entire concert lasted about 45 minutes, with a lot of interaction all the way through ~ a perfect combination for lower elementary grade school children.
And then it was time to get back on the bus and take the bumpity, jumpity, wiggly (the children, not the bus), rather LOUD ride back to Campau Park Elementary. What a fun morning! I was wondering WHY, though, is the Emergency Exit located on the CEILING of the bus?!
Thursday morning's field trip to Grand Rapids Christian High School was a much better outing than the prior one I had chaperoned. This time, I rode the bus with the children helping to keep Ms. Ewing's second grade class somewhat under control. I am extremely impressed with this teacher. I have observed her on several different occasions and she demonstrates such a quiet confidence. She has hand signals she uses with her children, she does not raise her voice, and they follow her lead very well ~ not perfectly by any means, but at least there is control to the chaos, and she is definitely in charge.
The Grand Rapids Symphony was hosting an event called, "Teddy Bear Picnic." The conductor was a marvelous fellow who enthusiastically greeted this auditorium filled with children! He briefly introduced the various sections of the orchestra: the folk in red shirts were the STRINGS, the folk in aqua shirts were PERCUSSION, the yellow ones were WOODWINDS, and the blue ones were BRASS.
Each child was given a small plastic kazoo as they filed in to be seated. The conductor told them he was going to teach them a song and they could all be part of the orchestra!
The conductor brought his favorite stuffed bears along and introduced them to everyone. There was White Bear, Brown Bear, Blue Bear, and FRED (the purple one). Sitting at most of the orchestra members' feet were stuffed bears they had brought as well.
The concert began with, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" and it was a sing-a-long! The children loved it! And then the conductor asked,"What else always shows up at a picnic?" Which led right into all of us singing, "The Ant Song." Then Bassoon Bear (in the picture below) came on stage and did a number to show us HOW LOW a bassoon could go ... but Bassoon Bear had to be encouraged by the children to play because he wasn't feeling well today. So all of the children had to yell very loudly, "PLEASE, MR. BASSOON BEAR, PLEASE PLAY FOR US!!"
One of the funnest things the orchestra did was to tell the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." They had a very fine narrator read the story, and the instruments joined in at just the right times ~ Papa Bear was played by the bassoon and the bass violin, the cello and oboe (I think) played the part of Mama Bear, and when Baby Bear was mentioned, the piccolo and soft bells would play! They did such a great job with it!
The children were delighted! Look at Destiny's happy face! The kazoo song came near the end, but most of the children attempted to play their kazoos throughout the entire concert. It was a bit of a challenge to keep them quiet until called upon!
The entire concert lasted about 45 minutes, with a lot of interaction all the way through ~ a perfect combination for lower elementary grade school children.
And then it was time to get back on the bus and take the bumpity, jumpity, wiggly (the children, not the bus), rather LOUD ride back to Campau Park Elementary. What a fun morning! I was wondering WHY, though, is the Emergency Exit located on the CEILING of the bus?!
3 comments:
I've never understood the emergency exit on the roof- unless that's what you use when the bus is on its side. I'm glad that you enjoyed the field trip and what a fun time it sounds like too.
what if the bus was in water up to the windows??? then the roof exit woudl be great!!!
Both scenarios: a bus full of children on its side, or a bus full of children in water up to the windows ~ is something I HOPE I never have to encounter! It's nice to have a way out in both of those cases, but I certainly don't want to ever want to be a chaperone on a bus in either situation! Too scary!
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