South Grafton kids get patriotic

We went to the Memorial Day festivities at South Grafton Elementary School this morning. My second grader has been practicing her “Stars and Stripes Forever” around the house for a few weeks now.

I’m going to apologize right here for the quality of these pictures. I am never going to be the perfect mom who manages to get there way in advance to snag a front row seat, nor am I the type of photographer who blithely throws herself on the floor and writhes around to get just the right shot. I’m an OK photographer who misses the multiple lenses of her film camera and is getting by with a point-and-shoot digital.

I have a friend who would claim that the “orb” in the photo above means there was a ghost in the room. I just hope the ghost appreciated the sign language the second graders learned to sing this song.

Every single parent in the place grabbed for their cameras when the kids whipped out their flags. My daughter loves songs that require arm motions or props. It stops her from nervously pushing her hair out of her face. I gave her a ponytail this morning, having spent the entire Christmas concert watching her play with her hair.

I have to cure her of this habit before she tries out for “American Idol.” It would drive Simon crazy.

At the bus stop this morning, I told another mom, who sells Creative Memories and, thus, is always taking pictures, that I planned to take pictures for the blog. Her prediction: “Everything will come out yellow, no matter what you do. It’s impossible to take a good picture in that cafeteria.”

See the yellow thing on the right hand side, which kind of resembles a magic marker? That’s a little whistle the second graders played during their first song. They were allowed to take them home after the concert.

Let me repeat that. They were allowed to take them home after the concert. And we only just threw away lost the kazoo from the Christmas concert.

Seriously, I’ve been very happy with the music program in the Grafton schools. When my son was at South Grafton, this was the concert for which they learned the “pre-corder,” which is kind of a younger sibling to the recorder, a small pipe. When they get to Grafton Elementary School, the third graders then pick up recorders and learn to play and read music before choosing an instrument in fourth grade.

My son plays the snare drum. Angie Crockwell, the music instructor at Grafton Elementary, knew there would be a lot of kids who would want to play drum, so she asked them to write an essay telling her exactly why they wanted to play it. This weeded out the less-serious kids and allowed her to have a band that wasn’t entirely percussion. I can’t say enough nice things about Mrs. Crockwell, really, but I’ll save those for later. Let’s get back to South Grafton.

The first graders were also a lively bunch. I love kids at this age. They think performing in public is just grand.

Yes, I’m convinced the elementary school teachers are taught in college “make them sing songs with hand movements or put something in their hands! Otherwise, they’re going to completely forget they’re in public, and who knows where those hands will go.”

Plus, it’s just really cute. I mean, look at them. Don’t you want to go back to the days when the biggest worry you had was not remembering to point your fingers at the sky at just the right moment? When you’d scan the crowd for your parents and wave enthusiastically when you found them? When you were absolutely convinced you were an awesome singer and you weren’t ashamed to belt it out in public?

Oh you totally do. I’ve seen you at the stoplight singing to the radio and drumming on the steering wheel. Maybe you threw in a little air guitar. It’s okay. You’re among friends here.

Since my daughter “graduates” from South Grafton this year, this is our last concert there. It makes me a little sentimental. Our very first concert, of course, was the Memorial Day after we moved in, when my now-second-grader was the size of this cute little chap with the flag.

Onward and upward, I guess. The girl-child will get a whole new set of teachers to ask her if she’s her brother’s sister while the boy-child breaks new ground at Grafton Middle School.