"This Little Light of Mine"

Recently, the second grade students at Art City Elementary had a musical presentation celebrating the civil rights movement and historic figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson. Spencer had the privilege of being involved in the program. Jason and I had the privilege of witnessing it.

Now, I've been to many school programs, and I'm of the opinion that the second grade program is the most poignant.  It was touching, really, to see images projected on the screen of individuals who met extreme challenges with extraordinary courage.  Children recited inspiring quotes and sang songs containing messages about the legacy of the actions of these brave individuals and the values they represented. I am pleased that these important messages are being shared with the students, and I hope Spencer will carry away from this experience a desire to be true to who he is and not be afraid to "let his light shine" as the messages in the songs he sang taught.

As for me, I will carry away from the experience fond memories of the performance where I watched my son sing his little heart out.  He did his Mama proud!
 

Some songs were joyous...

 

 

...some moments were serious....

....some notes were a little harder to reach than others...

 ...some notes were simply hummed...

 ...some songs required choreography...

...and some songs required special effects...

 ...but for me, the most "special effect" was when Spencer sang 

the performance culminating solo.  He was amazing!

 After the performance, Spencer wanted to make sure I took a picture of him 

with his teacher, Miss Winkel. Isn't she adorable?  Someone was finally wise 

enough to turn her into a Mrs.  She is engaged to be married this summer.  

Spencer might be a little disappointed, since he recently admitted 

to Jason and I that he possibly has a little crush on her.  Too cute!

 The students provided the decorations for the gym in the form of 
hand drawn portraits of the featured historical figures.  Spencer drew a 

bright and smiling image of Rosa Parks (in a thunderstorm).

 Spencer got to stand next to his best friend, Gabe.  The two boys were 

so entertaining to watch because they committed whole-heartedly to 

every aspect of the performance.  We could actually hear their pitch-perfect 

little voices carrying all the way from their spot on the back row.

Of course, after a fantastic performance like that, the family 

had to all go out and celebrate with a little ice-cream treat.

This post authored by Amber