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Boardman elementary schools host holiday performance
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Boardman Schools elementary music specialist Dean Wilson played a song early on in Stadium Drive Elementary's performance of "The Year Santa Forgot Christmas."
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Santa Claus' elves sang and tried their best, but they were unable to help him regain his memory during the performance of "The Year Santa Forgot Christmas."
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Stadium Drive Elementary students and teachers filled the school's gymnasium for the performance of "The Year Santa Forgot Christmas" by the first graders.
By TIM CLEVELAND
First-grade students at West Boulevard and Stadium Drive elementary schools gave performances of “The Year Santa Forgot Christmas” on Dec. 15 and 18, respectively.
Each school gave afternoon and evening performances at 1 and 7 p.m., with the afternoon performance for students and staff and the evening performance for families and friends.
There were approximately 80 students who performed at Stadium Drive and approximately 100 at West Boulevard.
The theme of the story is that Santa’s helper Holly accidentally hit him in the head with a sack of toys, causing amnesia and putting Christmas in jeopardy. Elves, reindeer and Christmas carolers try and fail to restore Santa’s memory. Just when things look bleak, children in their pajamas are finally able to get his memory back ans dave Christmas.
“I do a narrative; I stole the idea from another music teacher in Canfield and put in some traditional tunes and off we go,” Boardman school elementary music specialist Dean Wilson said. “I just heard the idea and I thought, oh, that’s a cute idea. I just made it my own. That’s what you do in education – beg, borrow and steal.”
Wilson said the students had been practicing the 35-minute performance since November.
“They’re going great; the children are having a great time,” he said. “They’re getting stage experience and learning how to present themselves in front of an audience. I went old school with this show. I’m playing from the piano, doing traditional Christmas things.”
Among the 14 songs the children sang included “Up on the House Top,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “We’ll Pound and We’ll Hammer” and “Let There be Peace on Earth.”
Wilson, who will be retiring after this school year, said the story originally had Santa’s memory being restored by the Baby Jesus, but he changed it many years ago.
Wilson said he enjoys the show because of the many traditional songs.
“I decided I wanted to be a little nostalgic and go back to the days how we always did things,” he said. “It’s been fun. I like the simplicity of it. We’re using traditional carols and songs. The kids are having a ball and learning.”