Music Mondays!

March was Music in Our Schools Month, a time that we celebrate the imprortance of music education in our schools and the music we create!  To celebrate, students at Franzen had two March Music Mondays (Benson celebrated with Tuneful Tuesdays!).  Each Monday, one Franzen teacher or staff member selected three of their favorite songs that were played at different times of the school day.  The music that someone likes tells a lot about them.  If we respect different kinds of music and the cultures they come from, we get insight into respecting the people behind that music as well.  Students got to take their best educated guess to determine who the mystery teacher was that selected the music.  The correct answers were placed in a drawing for a special prize.  The winners from our two Music Mondays are pictured below.  Congratulations!

Hubbard Street Dance 2 Performs at Benson and Franzen

Hubbard Street Dance 2, an incredible professional dance troupe based in Chicago, performed at Benson and Franzen Schools in April. They performed excerpts from their show "One Thousand Pieces," based on Marc Chagall's stained glass artwork "America Windows."  Students prepared for the event by studying Philip Glass and his music (they created their own class composition in the minimalistic style!), movement to music (locomotor vs. non-locomotor and pathways), and the stained glass artwork of Marc Chagall.  Thank you IEPTO for sponsoring this event!!

During the assembly, students got to see amazing choreography in action and they were even asked to learn part of a dance (sitting down!).

Hubbard Street 2 performing:

 

 Benson students performing seated choreography with the dancers:

3rd Grade Students Present "Thwacked" on May 1

Hop on down to Peacock Middle School on May 1 at 7 p.m. to see the third grade spring music program "Thwacked."  Students will present this fractured fairy tale (think The Princess and the Frog meets Chicken Little) in the Peacock Gym.  Third graders are screen-printing tee-shirts in art class this week to wear the night of the performance.  Students with speaking lines need to arrive at Peacock at 6:30 p.m. on the 1st and all other 3rd graders need to arrive at 6:40 p.m.  Third graders are working hard on their singing voices and "acting voices" (using projection, expression, fluency, and diction).  Come join us for a great evening of singing, acting, choreography, and entertainment!