Less than an hour before the first act of the Elementary Spring Concert was scheduled to take the stage on Friday, May 16, an email from ISD-391.org went out to all parents.
While the new gym was set up and the over 380 K-6 graders were ready to perform, there would be no concert that day.
Like much of Cleveland, the school had a power outage. Along with downed electrical lines from a thunderstorm that rolled through that morning, an SUV ran off the highway a few miles west of town and toppled a power pole.
“I was so disappointed,” said director Lacee Johnson. “I knew it was out of everybody’s control, but the kids put so much work into it, and I was just worried it would be cancelled.”
It wasn’t. Although finding another time slot as school was wrapping up for the year was difficult, the show was quickly rescheduled for Monday morning.
“I always thank you for being here,” Johnson said to the large audience that showed up then, “but today I have to give you an extra special thank you because I know schedules were changed, people drove extra miles, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here to support these kids. They have worked really hard, and they are excited to sing for you.”
First on deck, kindergartners combined with first graders put on a mini musical appropriately about spring. The first number was “What Has Happened to Spring?” It asks if someone can solve the mystery of where spring is. They followed with “Weeds,” which laments the difficult life of a weed.
If the crocus croaked, if the daisies died, they’d never put us in a bouquet. No way!
They just rip and tear us out by the hair. They yank us out and throw us away.
Next came “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs,” and they closed it with “Bada Bing, It’s Spring.”
The sun came out to welcome spring and soon the birds began to sing.
The flowers heard the joyful song. Oh how they hoped to sing along.
They danced and swayed to the joyful sound and poked their heads out of the ground.
So one by one, out of their beds, they yawned and stretched and raised their heads.
The second graders led off with “Kookaburra,” an Australian nursery rhyme and round about the laughing Kookaburra bird.
Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra,
Happy your life must be!
They followed with “On Top of Spaghetti,” the first of a trio of food songs sung at the concert. To the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey,” the song tells the story of a meatball that rolls off a plate of spaghetti after someone sneezes.
They closed with “Tell Me a Joke,” which featured the class comedians telling jokes around a recurring refrain.
Tell me a joke. Tell me a joke for fun. Make it a riddle or make it a pun, oh tell me a joke for fun.
Third graders opened with “Goin’ on a Picnic.” Next came “Pizza Party,” which incorporated famous Italian melodies as well as “cheesy” pizza jokes.
Spread the sauce. Spread the love. Sprinkle cheese from above. Try it you will like it. That’s a pizza guarantee.
They closed with “Dancing All Day,” a humorous nod to dancers set in a Latin style—often used for dancing—with a pop flavor mixed in.
Dancing all day. Dancing all night.
Dancing in in the dark and dancing in the light.
Dancing all day. That’s what I do.
I have worn a hole in the bottom of my shoe.
After the third graders left the stage, The Baker Trio performed ColdPlay’s “Yellow.” Sixth grader Bella Baker sang and played keyboards while her cousin, sixth-grader Logan Baker, played the bass guitar. Logan Baker’s fourth-grade brother Liam Baker played the drums.
The fourth graders opened with “Ribbons in the Sky,” a Native American-inspired piece that celebrates the beauty of a rainbow. The students waved colored scarves to represent the spectrum (above). The song featured Brodey Rutz on the recorder and Evelyn Hrdlicka on the rain stick.
The fourth graders followed with “Tongue Twister,” a lighthearted rock song that featured students reciting tongue twisters between lines. The song acknowledged that tongue twisters also serve a useful purpose: teaching students how to speak more clearly.
Tongue twister. Tongue twister. Try to say it fast.
“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
You just might get tongue tied, but still you’ll have a blast.
“Greek grapes, Greek grapes, Greek grapes, Greek grapes.”
Tongue twister. Tongue twister. Try it and you’ll see.
“Which wrist watches are Swiss wrist watches?”
Learning to annunciate is fun for you and me.
“Steve was stocked while stirring a stellar stir-fry.”
They closed with “Just For Fun.” A lively swing that was accented with whimsical off-stage antics: gymnastics, a human worm, leapfrog, a human wheelbarrow, stick-horse riders and clowns.
Just laugh for the fun of it. Just sing for the fun of it. Just dance for the fun of it. Just for fun.
When you have the blah blah blahs, what you need are hah hah hahs.
When you have the bluest blues, what you need I’m telling you.
Let some fun into the day. Happiness is on its way. You can do it just for fun.
Continuing with the food theme, the fifth graders opened with “Raining Tacos.”
It's raining tacos from out of the sky.
Tacos. No need to ask why.
Just open your mouth and close your eyes.
It's raining tacos.
Next up was “If I Were a Fish,” which featured Kennedy Dauk, Adli Hoisington, Davin McClister and Nolan McLister on kazoos. From there they performed the 1978 disco hit “YMCA,” complete with, of course, forming Y-M-C-A with their arms, Brooklyn Berg and Lucy Smith arranged the choreography.
The fifth graders closed with a self-written tribute to their teacher Jeff Skinner “Mr. Skinner’s Awesome!” (see separate story).
The sixth graders opened with “This Ol’ Man,” a new slant on the original song with each verse a musical treat, such as knee-slaps, bees buzzing and snippets of familiar tunes like “Skip to My Lou,” “Chopsticks” and “There's No Place Like Home.”
From there, it was “It’s in My Desk,” a song about the “treasures” found in student desks.
One old jar of dried-up paste, three markers that all leaked.
A frayed and broken gym shoelace, my sandwich from last week!
A reading book that's overdue, a picture of my cat.
One partly chewed up piece of gum, my mom would just love that!
They closed with Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa.”
Directed by Erik Hermanson, Third Hour Download jazz band, which was made up of one sophomore, one junior and the rest seniors, performed before and after each set.
Kindergarteners and first graders
Second graders: Tell Me a Joke
Third graders
Concert greeters
Video: Spring Concert