Neighbors | Submitted.Hilltop Elementary School first-graders and their grandparents visited the gym and played games during the school’s annual Grandparents Day on March 16.
Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Hilltop Elementary School first-grader Jared Toporcer (center) invited his grandparents (left to right) Mary Toporcer, Bob Toporcer and Georgette Szabados to the school’s annual Grandparents Day on March 16.
Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Hilltop Elementary School first-graders, under the direction of music teacher Stephanie Summers, performed the musical portion of the school’s annual Grandparents Day to a packed house on March 16.
By ABBY SLANKER
First-grade students at Hilltop Elementary School celebrated the school’s annual Grandparents Day by inviting their grandparents to join them for a special musical performance and a visit to their classrooms on March 16.
As the students entered the multi-purpose room to perform the musical portion of the day, they were greeted by their proud, excited and waving grandparents, armed with cameras, phones and video cameras to preserve memories of this special day.
The students were under the direction of Stephanie Summers, Hilltop Elementary School music teacher, who was accompanied on the piano by Courtney Larson.
“Good morning, everyone. I have the pleasure of working with your children and grandchildren every day. They have prepared a great performance for you and they have been working very hard. Thank you to the first-grade teachers for all their hard work, too. And thank you especially to Ms. Summers, our music teacher, and Courtney Larson, our accompanist. They have put in a lot of hard work putting this program together. I hope you enjoy our program today,” said Joe Maroni, Hilltop Elementary School principal, as he welcomed the grandparents.
Maroni then turned the program over to Summers.
“Welcome everyone. We are going to start our program with a patriotic song ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag.’ It is the first song from a musical that sold a million copies. We hope you enjoy the show,” Summers said.
Summers started the program with the Pledge of Allegiance and was followed by the students singing “You’re A Grand Old Flag.” The students then sang their school song, “Hilltop Elementary,” written by first-grade teacher Charn Creed.
Next in the performance was “Little Red Wagon,” followed by “My County ‘Tis of Thee.” The students then sang “Cluck, Cluck Red Hen,” which was a twist, with new lyrics, on “Ba, Ba Black Sheep.”
In introducing the program’s finale, Summers thanked the grandparents for coming to the show.
“Before we perform our finale, I would like to thank you so much for coming to our show today. And thank you for coming out on such a snowy morning! Our final song will be ‘The More We Get Together,’ which I thought was pretty appropriate for today, as you are getting together with your grandchildren here at Grandparents Day,” Summers said
The students performed “The More We Get Together” with special choreography included.
When they finished, first-grade teacher Charn Creed invited the grandparents to join their grandchildren with a little audience participation.
“Once again our first-graders have pulled off a fabulous show. They loved singing “The More We Get Together.” They love bringing together friends and grandparents. They love it so much, they would like to sing it with you with a little audience participation,” Creed said.
After a brief lesson in the choreography, the grandparents joined their grandchildren in singing a verse of “The More We Get Together,” with many laughs and cheers from both audience and performers.
After the program, the students and their grandparents took turns visiting the art room with art teacher Diane Leonard, the gym with physical education teacher Linda Magyar and their classroom to visit with their teacher.
The students and their grandparents also visited the library with Patti Hockensmith to peruse and shop at the school’s annual book fair.