Down the Halls of Ol' Mimosa

Fourth and Fifth graders are all learning the school's Alma Mater. Here is some history on it:

About three years ago, maybe four, Mrs. Johnson asked me to write a school song. Can you believe that in all this time, there was never a school song? One of the things I have fun doing is taking a familiar tune and coming up with new words. I thought that we really needed a fun school song and a serious school song. The Alma Mater is our serious song. It is meant to be sung at things like the 5th grade celebration and the last walk through the school.

So, where did it come from?
Roswell High School's Alma Mater has the same melody as Cornell University. Mr. Spraggins and I thought that it would be good to use that melody since you'll hear it in high school. The melody is called "Far Above Cayuga's Waters."

How did you come up with the words?
I got a history of the school and started writing. I wrote the spirit song by myself, but Mr. S. helped with the Alma Mater. It took us about two weeks, but the song we came up with represents the learning, diversity, and community that we have at our school. Our school motto, "Where learning unites us," is in there as well.

The parts "we are learning, we are growing" are significant as well. We could have used the past tense in that line, but chose to use words to show that learning and growing will still happen in the years to come. "Growing" does not mean how tall you are going to get- it means how much your are going to learn.



I have heard some of you come up with new words to songs. If you are willing to share with me (not in front of your class), I will give you house points! 

Writing Fair!

The teachers in charge of the writing fair have offered a challenge:

Write about what you love most about music, art, or PE. Be creative.

If you show me your paper before turning it in, I will give you house points.

Performer of the Month: Will Smith

It's January, and that means a new performer of the month! This month's performer is Will Smith. You may only know that he's an actor, but when he first started out, he was a successful rapper.

-Will Smith was known as The Fresh Prince in the 1980's while he was rapping. He got the nickname "prince" because he was known for using his charm to get out of trouble. He also performed frequently with his friend, DJ Jazzy Jeff.

-Will Smith had a hit song called "Parents Just Don't Understand." It was a hit with teenagers at the time.

-One of his hobbies is playing chess.

-He speaks Spanish fluently.