All Star Love from London

Most everyone should know the news by now, but I am leaving this place so dear to my heart. I will be studying in London at East 15 Acting School (part of the University of Essex) to obtain my Masters of Fine Arts in Acting. It's a two year program and I will be living in the Northeast corner of London.

I'm amazed by how a heart can be so excited and sad at the same time. I wish there were a way to stay and see the shining faces of 550 All Stars each day, as well as follow my other dreams. Luckily I will have breaks to be able to come back and see some wonderful GFAA performances! 

On field day this year, I asked some of my students if they had any advice for me when moving across the pond. I think their responses capture a little of why I have loved these past two years so much. GFAA has seriously GREAT kids!

I have faith that Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Trammell, and everyone else a part of the Fine Arts team will keep our school moving forward in a spectacular fashion. I can't wait to see all the wonderful things awaiting. Thank you all so much for allowing me to be a part of your family.

Please feel free to follow my London adventures at jkitsmejenny.blogspot.com!

Blessings!

2012-2013 Wrap-Up

Ms. Vogel likes to have a theme quote for each year and for this year as inspiration we used:

We do the impossible every day at GFAA and because of this, it was only fitting to design our fourth Showcase around this same quote! Our Kindergarten, 2nd graders, 4th graders, and speciality performance clubs showed off their stuff to the soundtracks of Disney classics like Mary Poppins, Lion King, Tarzan, Mulan, Hercules, Toy Story, and more! The 350 performers really a fantastic job showcasing their own Disney magic!

Our very own Media Specialist Mrs. Garcia put together an AWESOME 2012-2013 Wrap-up Video of Garner. It's a little bit ridiculous ALL that we did in NINE months! Check out the video HERE!

Happy beginning of summer to all!

Showcase Date Change

Our Spring Showcase has had yet another date change, so make sure your calendar is up to date!

Tuesday, May 28th - rehearsal at SGP
Wednesday, May 29th - showcase at SGP

Come to see over 350 all stars rock the stage! Our kinder, 2nd, and 4th grades along with performance groups will all be showcased!

Dancin' Through the Decades with Kindergarten!

Last week our Kindergarteners pulled off maybe the cutest show in GFAA history. From the 1920s all the way to the 2000s, we saw them dance and sing their way through the decades! From the Charleston to swing to the twist to Hammertime- they really had all their moves down. It's pretty special to see over 100 five and six year olds performing like pros during their first time on stage.

Loving my job!

1st and 2nd Grade Success!

The past few weeks have been crazy busy around the fine arts world at GFAA! We had almost back to back PTA performances by 1st and 2nd grade. Each group of all stars did wonderfully! We all can't wait to see what these kids are capable of by 5th grade.

2nd grade was up first with "Squirm." Check out our bats, worms, snakes, spiders, and farmers below.

Two weeks afterwards, our multi-talented 1st graders had their turn onstage with "How Does Your Garden Groove?" It was fantastic as well, just like them! Take a look at our dancing and singing veggies below.

Our last (and maybe cutest) PTA performance of the year will be here soon! Kindergarten will present "Dancing through the Decades" on Thursday, April 18th. I hope you can make it out!

-Ms. King

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

This past week, our Kindergartners learned all about Chinese New Year (which is being celebrated right now) and the special dances that go along with it- the Lion and the Dragon Dances. See if your kindergartner can tell you the difference between the two!

Next week, our 2nd graders will perform their grade-level PTA musical, Squirm. Come out at 7:00 on Thursday night (February 28th) to see these worms, snakes, spiders, and bats sing and dance their way into your hearts! You might even learn a thing or two, as well!

Loving my job!

End of the Year Excitement

Well, as usual the last few days of the semester proved extremely busy for our all stars. Here's a quick run down of some of the wonderful things that happened in December for us:

• Our Winter Showcase was a HUGE success! Our 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders along with our specialty performance clubs did a phenomenal job. I can't say enough how appreciative I am of parents and family for supporting your talented kids by helping backstage, sewing homemade Nutcracker costumes, and applauding for all the 300+ rock stars that performed that night! (You can click on the pictures to make them larger.)
  
  
  
  
  
• Polar Express day came to GFAA! On top of that, it was also college day! (So of course I made my own homemade Baylor pj pants- sic 'em!) The whole school looked fantastic decked out in their pajamas and college gear. We had a ridiculously adorable polar express parade courtesy of our kindergartners which ended with the everyone in the cafe. There we sang songs and told the story of the best train ever. Afterwards we surprised Mrs. Sterling and Mrs. Becker with their own jar of bells. Just like everything GFAA does, it was pretty magical!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The next to the last day before Winter break, we had the honor of hosting Texas Commissioner of Education Williams for a visit to Garner! We wanted to show him all that we had to offer as a GPISD School of Choice and I think we succeeded! All Star Dancers and Crew lined our red carpet at the school's entrance and welcomed the Commissioner in with choreography they learned mere minutes beforehand (pretty professional for ten-year-olds)! Once our fourth graders who were at lunch formally welcomed him to GFAA, our stage curtains opened to reveal the Showstoppers who performed "Start It Up." The group toured our Early Education wing, a 5th grade math classroom (where they were learning fractions through music notes!) and our media center. Everything ended with our performance kids dancing and singing Commissioner Williams all the way to his car. He seemed very impressed with all we were doing here and at one point even got his iPhone out and started filming our performances! The whole experience reminded me of how proud I am to be a part of this school.
  
  
  
  
  
• With all that craziness under our belt, you would think we would try to have a nice relaxing final day before break, right? Nope! Mrs. Becker discovered a contest where our school could win $15,000 (and you know how much we could do with that money here at Garner) so we put our submission video together in less than 24 hours! Click below to see all the different way we can rock "Jingle Bells" at GFAA and vote for us EVERYDAY! Voting ends January 11th!
  
  
  GFAA "Jingle Bells" - Help us win $15,000!
  
  
  Whoo! It was a crazy last few days, but well worth it. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Here's to an All Star 2013!