Maple Leaf Stomp

We had our second practice today and everyone did very well!!

Our Parkside Folkfest planning team has been chosen. The following people will be working with me to help with the decision making process. We'll discuss items such as the dances we'll be working on, what we'll be wearing and what needs to be done to get our school ready for Folkfest next month:

• Tina - Grade 5
• Kashire - Grade 5
• Afrin - Grade 4
• Laura - Grade 4
• Tanner - Grade 4

Laura and Afrin will help maintain this blog and will be our official Folkfest bloggers. Watch for some future posts on this blog by Afrin and Laura!!

If you would like to practice today's dance, the Maple Leaf Stomp, you can download the music here. Look for the column that reads mp3(music files) and click on the link Maple Leaf Stomp to download the music. In my next post, you'll find the written instructions for the dance.

Thank you again to Mrs. Cornwall and our parent volunteers Mrs. Grisbrook, Ms. Fric and Ms. Rutherdale who helped with the practice today. Everyone enjoyed the popsicle treats generously provided by Ms. Fric.

Watch for practices that will take place during recess. If the weather's nice, we'll be outside. If the weather's not so nice, we'll practice in the gym.

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Our first rehearsal...

We had our first rehearsal this afternoon where we practiced the dance Pata Pata. We were a large group and numbered about 35 with a few students away. We have approximately 45 students registered to participate.

Thanks to our many, and I mean many, parent volunteers who freely offered their time, Mrs. Grisbrook and Mrs. Cornwall. Everyone's dance skills exceeded my expectations!

Mrs. Cornwall provided the group with an unexpected treat of Timbits as we left the rehearsal.

We're planning to meet again next Tuesday to work on our next dance. In the meantime, if you have access to a computer and would like to practice Pata Pata, you can:

1. Click here to listen to the music. When prompted, you may want to save the music to your desktop so you can listen to it at your leisure. Windows Media Player is the program that plays this song the best.
2. Click here to display and print a copy of the steps for Pata Pata. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see the directions. If you don't have this, you can download it for free by clicking here.

If you're following the written instructions for the dance, you may notice a slight difference in the footwork. I believe that the children were originally taught the "primary" version of the dance instead of the "printed" steps. Everyone knows it so well that with so few practices before the Folkfest date, I'm not going to "mess with" what everyone already knows and is familiar with.

I had fun and am looking forward to meeting everyone again at our next practice.

Welcome to our blog!!!

We're going to Folkfest and we have lots of planning to do! Check back often to see what we're up to.