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