Hallelujah! Today I had the third graders for our elective time (our last one together 😞) and they sang every song in Pirates! without music or words with few stumbles! I was so proud of them, it was hard to not swell their little heads.
On Thursday we are going to go run through it on the stage. Still no performance date yet. The assistant principle told me it would be on awards day but wouldn't you know he didn't tell me when that is! And of course no one else does either.
Well at least the 3rd graders are ready. And that makes me happy 😄
I'm slowly getting myself ready since I have to accompany the entire thing and come up with a set. I'm actually not dreading that because I love this stuff but the accompanying...now that's been quite the exercise in sight-reading so far.
We are 1 1/2 weeks away from the end of the first quarter when our 1st quarter electives end. This means that the musicals we are working on have to be finished. We won't have anymore time to work on them. This is rather scary.
The 5th grade class that I am doing Pirates! The Musical with is waay behind the 3rd grade who is doing it with them. I have them for their regular specials time on Friday mornings for 45 minutes and then on Monday for our electives time for 1 hour. Well, this past Friday I was out sick with a really sore throat, stopped up head and general fatigue. Sunday, I went to Urgent Care and was given an antibiotic for bronchitis and an ear infection. Needless to say, I stayed home in a codeine-induced stupor. (No worries, it was prescribed)
I had left plans that would make it possible for them to still do some work on getting the musical ready but Murphy seemed to be in full force (Murphy's Law..?) The teacher who subbed for me on Friday is one of our teacher assistants so the kids all know him. His delightful comment? "The fifth graders were horrible on Friday." Monday there was a different sub, same results: "This class was the most disrespectful, rude and disruptive class I have ever had." We had quite the "Come to Jesus" meeting on Tuesday in which I informed them that I can and will cancel any performance if their behavior doesn't change. And scared a few with the thought that their teacher and I might make a house call to discuss behavior.
Anyway, not only are we struggling to learn the songs, but don't forget the script! I may just end up having to let them hold scripts in their hands.... I hate that, it looks so unprepared. But it may be the only way. Good news: the third graders don't need it :) the only thing we struggle with is remembering words to songs. It's sad when you have to count on 14 3rd graders to carry along 23 5th graders...
P.S. I still haven't gotten a date for performances. It's been over a month since I asked the first time.
P.P.S. Nor do I actually have the musical books! I had to get them on approval with my credit card. And when I dared to ask about them the other day in an email (being that the 1st quarter is up and the 2nd quarter, with new musicals, is right around the corner), I was given a curt "We haven't had the funds. I'll let you know." It's a measly $20 a book AND she approved the books at the beginning of the quarter, that was part of the proposal! What does she think I've been doing if she hasn't purchased the books?
To brighten your day, here's the 3rd graders. No faces are shown for obvious reasons (I don't look forward to my first angry parent confrontation).
