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!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

The 2nd Annual GFAA Winter Showcase

I'm hoping that most of you have this date on your calendar already, but here is my formal invitation to you!

Come out to see over 300 All Stars dance, sing, drum, host, step, and ring their hearts out! I'm especially excited about our full grade-level performances for 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. They involve The Nutcracker, Polar Express, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. You can't go wrong with those soundtracks! This year you will also see our Audio Production and Steppers after school clubs perform, as well as performance groups- All Star Dancers, All Star Crew, Showstoppers, All Star Ringers, and Drama Club. 

There might even be a surprise performance of some sort, but shhhh, it's a secret... ;)

We've had attendances at past Showcases of close to 900 (standing room only!) so get there early to get your seats! Hope to see you there!

-Miss King

Happy Halloween!

I hope you and yours had a safe but spooktacular holiday! This past week to celebrate in dance class 2nd graders learned some original "Thriller" choreography! I had a bunch of mini-Michael Jacksons on my hands! Here's a picture of one of our classes in their best monster pose:




Other updates:

4th graders have been learning all about swing dancing! See if your kid can teach you the basic step, the dishrag, or any of the other fun moves we've been learning.

3rd grade had a fantastic PTA performance last week with their "Bebop with Aesop" program. We didn't have as much time as usual to rehearse onstage and there were some pretty challenging scenes and lyrics- way to rock it, all stars!

All Star Crew auditions were outstanding. I was blown away by the talent at GFAA yet again. 16 fourth and fifth grade boys made the team and I am expecting great things out of them all year!

In 1st grade we have already started preparing for Winter Showcase! Can you believe it? I'll give you a few hints concerning their performance: there will be toy soldiers, mice, and sugar plum fairies involved! :)

Excited for our Apex fun run tomorrow!
-Miss King

Welcome Back! I have a big announcement!

In just a few short days, the halls of GFAA will once again be filled with almost 600 all stars! I am so excited to be starting this wonderful journey again and am sure it will be even better the second time around. This year will be different in several ways- first of all, we now have five specials teachers instead of three! All Garner students will have rotations for art, music, dance, theatre, and strings. The new subjects and teacher additions to our team are fantastic!

The only sad part of this equation is that I had to choose between two of the things I love most- dance and theatre. At first I was a bit heartbroken until I found out that the theatre teacher transferring to our school was none other than Ms. Cassie Bann! I went to college with Ms. Bann and taught with her my first year in Grand Prairie. I can guarantee that she is the real deal! I can pass off the theatre program at GFAA knowing it is in good hands. Look for a change to my title bar soon since "From Pantomime to Pirouettes: The Actors and Dancers of GFAA" is no longer quite appropriate. Any suggestions out there?? :)

This past week, our very own All Star Dancers, Showstoppers, and Drum Club had the privilege of performing at GPISD Convocation. This is an annual event held for all GP employees at Verizon Theatre. Seventy of our All Stars got to sing, dance, and drum on the same stage that other stars like Coldplay, Kelly Clarkson, and Aretha Franklin have performed! They got two (count 'em- TWO) standing ovations. The dancers have been practicing since July for this performance- what dedication! This was the first test for our new team that had auditions in May and what a huge one it was! They passed with flying colors and I really couldn't be prouder.

Also this past week, Garner Fine Arts Academy teachers have been hard at work giving our school a little facelift. If you came to the back to school picnic last night, you could definitely see all our fun hallway and classroom creativity! If you had to miss the picnic, then I look forward to seeing you on Monday! Have a blessed weekend!
-Miss King

Dancers prepping for their performance on Verizon stage

Happy Summer/National Dance Day!

Well, unfortunately the end of the end of the school year really got away from me! I was so busy with end of the year cleaning, All Star Dancer auditions, and planning for next year that I never got to wish everyone avery happy SUMMER! I think we've all earned this time off. ;)

In other news: the third annual National Dance Day is coming up! On Saturday, July 28th, think about how YOU can celebrate movement in your life! You don't need years of training or perfect technique to have dance make a positive impact on your life. It's wonderful for your health and spirit in any form! So whether it's taking a Zumba class, checking out your local swing dance society, or just jamming out in your kitchen- have fun and let that music move you!

To find out more about NDD and the official routines for this year (there's a really fun Zumba one I've already done at my gym) visit the Dizzy Feet Foundation's website!

http://dizzyfeetfoundation.org/national-dance-day

-Miss King

Delightful Designers!

It's a common misconception that all "theatre" people are actors. The fact of the matter is that more men and women make their living in the theatre offstage than on it! These people are a part of the technical side of theatre. We're talking about directors, choreographers, stage managers, set designers, lighting designers, costume designers, makeup designers, backstage run crew, box office personnel, etc. Their contributions to theatre are just as important as any actor's!

Last month, third through fifth graders studied several aspects of theatre design - costume, makeup, set, and advertisement. The then created their own fairy tale and designed a theatre production based on it. The following pictures are some of my favorite products from these classes!

Enjoying these last few days of the school year!
-Miss King

Long Time, No Blog!

I have to admit- the last six weeks has really gotten away from me...as far as this blog is concerned! There is a TON I could update about, but here are three very important highlights:

At a very successful Spring Showcase, we premiered the highly anticipated GFAA Flash Mob video!! Watch it here on youtube and please share it with all of your friends on every social media site you can think of! We want the whole world to know about the greatness of Garner Fine Arts Academy!

Our website has a new address...and a facelift! Visit www.gpisd.org/garner from now on to keep up to date with all our events and information. Click under the "Programs" tab to find my little corner of "Theatre/Dance." Be sure to check out the photo galleries and helpful links I've added!

On our new homepage, you can download the audition information for Showstoppers and All Star Dancers. Can you believe showcase just ended and we're already planning for next year?? No rest for the All Stars! Incoming 4th and 5th grade girls that would like to audition for the All Star Dancers must attend a choreography session this Thursday (May 31st) after school as well as small groups tryouts this Saturday morning (June 2nd). More details are available on the website, but as always feel free to email me with any questions!

More updates to come soon!

Loving my job,

Miss King

Kindergarten PTA: Take Two!

Thankfully, we all survived Tuesday's bad weather. Mrs. Becker and I had a mix of kindergarten, Pre-K, daycare, and 2nd grade students that took shelter in the black box theatre with us and their teachers. Everyone handled the semi-crazy situation really well! The only problem was that our Kindergarten PTA showcase had to be postponed.

But no worries, because the show will go on! This coming Tuesday, April 10th at 7:00 our 110 Kindergartners will perform "When I Grow Up." Fun fact: this show is the original brainchild of our own music teacher extraordinaire, Mrs. Becker! Come for the PTA meeting and stay to see the cutest baseball players, doctors, firemen, and rock stars you've ever seen!

-Miss King

P.S.- Another wonderful news piece was written about Garner- this time in the Dallas Morning News! Read the article here!

Open House and Other Updates

Welcome back, GFAA family! I hope everyone's spring break was wonderful! Here are a few random - but important - reminders and updates...

Tomorrow is open house! I'd love to see and meet as many family members as possible, so be sure to stop by the theatre and dance rooms if you have time. I'll have some of the older kids' current design projects out for them to show you if they'd like.

Make sure to check out the new updates to our "Auditions around Town" board, right outside the dance studio! It will have information on three different auditions coming up for the musicals My Fair Lady, Annie Get Your Gun, and Gypsy. There will also be some info on some great children's theatre going on currently in the metroplex!

This Tuesday, March 20th was "World Theatre for Children and Young People Day." Whew, that's a mouthful! But it's of course something that I'm very passionate about. It's a little late, but here is a nice, short article about the importance on theatre in our youths' lives.

Also, don't forget that next week on Tuesday and Wednesday we have STAAR testing for some of our upper grades. I'm sure our All Stars will rock that test. :)

I hope to see you tomorrow!
-Miss King

Happy Spring Break to all!

Time has gotten away from me these past few weeks! Let's play a little catch-up, shall we?

*1st grade performed their fabulous PTA show "E-I-E-I-OOPS!" We had the most talented goats, sheep, ducks, chicks, and pigs I've ever seen. :)

*The GFAA Carnvial was a great success- thanks in huge part to our fantastic PTA. The All Star Dancers started out the talent show with a super performance. Those 18 girls make me prouder and prouder each week. Hopefully I will be able to post some videos of their performances soon!

*The All Star Dancers also had their official yearbook photo shoot! Here are some of my favorites-

*The new theatre performance group, the All Star Players, has begun rehearsals for a short play of "Hansel & Gretel." The plan is to perform for our younger grades at Garner. These 18 fourth and fifth graders have also been impressing me with their talents!

*3rd through 5th grade classes have been working on a really cool theatre design project in class recently. We will finish these up after spring break. Can't wait to post pictures!

*Last, but not least, Garner had another wonderful piece written about it by the Arlington News Network! Read it here. Everytime we have visitors, it reminds me of what a blessing this place is!

Whew. Life is crazy, but a blast! I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing week off!
-Miss King

The Greatest Show on Earth!

It's that time again! (PTA grade level showtime that is.) Tomorrow night at 7:00 our super 2nd graders will be clowning and cartwheeling their way through "Circus, Circus!" These kids are excited when the circus comes to town, but oh no! The ringmaster is sick! Whatever will they do??

Come join us for dancing bears, tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and more! It's our first production on the brand new GFAA stage and it will be one to remember!

-Miss King

An Important New Addition!

Happy Monday to all!

I'm really excited to tell you about a new addition to the fine arts hallway! It's a little project that I've been planning for a while and finally have gotten around to starting!

Outside of the dance studio is the newly created "auditions around town" bulletin board! I'm very passionate that each and every one of our kids gets as many opportunities as possible to perform and hopefully the information on this board will help provide that! We also want to get Garner's name out there in the local arts community- DFW needs to know discover the true all stars we have here!

I promise that I will only recommend theatres, dance studios, and companies that I know are safe and well-respected. I will also try to post as much of the information as possible here on my blog as well, so that everyone will have quick access to it.

Here's what's currently on the board:

Studio B Performing Arts is holding auditions for the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof on Saturday, February 11th. There are limited ensemble (chorus) roles for children. Families are encouraged to participate together! Kids should sing 16 bars of a musical theatre song (preferrably with accompaniment on a cd) and have a monologue prepared. For more information, visit http://www.studiobtheatre.info/

Also on the board (and also highly recommended) :

Dallas Children's Theatre (DCT) still has a few spots left in their Spring Classes which run from January 27th - April 21st. Tuition is $220 and all sessions are taught by seasoned theatre professionals.

Drama Level 1 (for Kinder/1st graders): work on your acting skills with the show "Mermaids and Pirates" every Monday from 4:00-5:30!

Drama Level 2 (for 2nd/3rd graders): "Act, Act, Act!" is on Tuesdays from 4:00 - 5:30 and "Be a Star!" is on Wednesdays from 4:30 - 6:00.

There is also a Scenes class on Thursdays from 4:30 - 6:00 where junior actors will work on scenes from DCT shows such as "Tom Sawyer", "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", "Little Women", and more!

For more info, call DCT Education Director Nancy Schaeffer at 214-978-0110 or email her at: nancy.schaeffer@dct.org. Also visit http://www.dct.org/ for more information!

Since Math Night is this Thursday, take a second to stop by the board if you need more information! See you there!

-Miss King

Welcome back! We're on the news!

Welcome back to students and parents! I hope everyone had a restful and wonderful holiday break. In case you haven't noticed, GFAA has been in the news a lot lately! (And it's all good stuff!)

Last week Channel 11 filmed a story on our campus about why GFAA was formed and the impact it has had so far. In case you missed it, you can find that story here.

Today, I was super excited to have Channel 5 visit my Kindergarten class today to film their own segment on Garner. The students did so well- not only in their dancing, but also in their behaivor. I was a very proud teacher! To see Channel 5's story, click here.

So what are we learning these days in dance and theatre??

Kindergarten and 1st grade are learning all about ballet basics. Ballet is the foundation of all modern dance and dates back to the Italian Renaissance. It was further cemented as an art form in the royal courts of France, which is why it is mostly made up of French words. So your kids are currently learning another language! Quiz them to see if they can perform the following steps and/or tell you what they mean in English:
Plié - to bend at the knees
Relevé - to rise
Tendu - to stretch
Rond de jambe - circle of the leg

Second through fifth graders are working on developing their own character as well as writing their own monologues. (In monologues, one actor performs a longer piece of dialogue by themselves.) Be sure to ask your student about the character they have created!

One more note: the performance theatre group (currently called the All Star Players) is have auditions this Thursday after school. Any fourth or fifth grader may try out. We will practice every Tuesday morning before school starting at 7:30 sharp. (There is a possibility that we will have a few afternoon practices later in the semester.) I hope to put on a full production with this group! They will also be featured in the Spring Showcase at the end of the year.

There are wonderful things happening at GFAA! I feel very blessed to be a part of it.
-Miss King

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I have had an amazing first semester here at GFAA and am already getting excited for all the wonderful things the new year will bring! For now though, I'm content for everyone to take a well deserved break. I hope your Christmas season is filled with laughter, peace, and joy!
-Miss King