Nakusp Elementary School (NES) helped get people into the Christmas spirit by hosting a concert for friends and family.
The school decided to go with a theme for the concert. This year’s theme was tradition.
There were many parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends in the NES gym. So many, in fact, it was standing room only.
Brenda McQuair’s Grade 3-4 class kicked things off with “The Baker’s Dozen,” a short skit on why there are 13 in a baker’s dozen as opposed to the usual 12. The class took turns in being characters from the skit, a fact that pleased members of the audience.
“Not one child was left out, even though it took a lot more organization to do it that way than just to have some prime stars.” said Fran Flesaker. Flesaker and her husband, Ken, have grandchildren at NES, and drove down from Nelson specifically for the concert.
A sweet moment occurred as the kindergarten and Grade 1 class came on stage. Before their performance, some of the children spotted their families in the crowd, and waved excitedly, which made a few people laugh.
Planning for the Christmas concert starts almost as soon as the school year does, because there needs to be time to schedule everything.
“Teaching all the kids, all the plays, or all the reading, you’re taking the time out of doing math, or social studies, or doing something else,” said Sue Paterson, principal at NES. “You plan for that theatre time with your kids.”
It wasn’t just the kids who participated this year. A group of teachers got together and brought a tropical touch to the evening with the song “Mele Kalikimaka”.
“Shane Douglas, our new learning resource teacher, found some ukuleles in the school and he was saying ‘So-and-so is going to dance,’ and ‘So-and-so is going to perform,’ so we thought ‘Why not?’” said Paterson.
“People were so eager. It wasn’t very polished, but it was fun.”
There weren’t just Christmas songs being sung that night. Karen Marsden and Patrick McGibbon’s Grade 3 class paid tribute to Hanukkah with the song “Shalom.”
The school is very aware that not every child celebrates Christmas. To accommodate this, there will be a spring concert taking place.
For now, both staff and students are enjoying a well earned vacation.