Waverly Kindergarten Students Shine in Spring Concert

On Thursday, Waverly’s youngest learners celebrated not only the changing of the seasons, but also their entry point into musical performance, as district kindergartners dazzled parents, family members and friends at the school’s spring concert. 

The concert—which featured odes to both the friendships built at Waverly as well as traditional springtime classics—was the first foray into the performing arts for the majority of the youngsters. Waverly music teacher Katherine Ness explained that when introducing younger students to musical concepts, it is important to employ multi-sensory approaches. That was evident during Thursday’s concerts, as students used props including shakers, scarves and colorfully decorated egg signs to reinforce both the themes and musical concepts on display in the songs. 

“It’s a combination of developing their music skills as well as developing their love for music,” said Ness. “I think for kindergarten students, it's important to be hands on as much as possible, so that's why we use these tools as part of the process.”

Waverly Principal Caitlin Mondelli noted that music instruction is an important part of the early-elementary curriculum, and can be something that plays huge dividends in a child’s development, whether or not they continue to pursue music as they get older.

“It’s been such a joy to see our youngest learners flourish, not only in academics, but in the arts,” said Mondelli. “Music is such a vital component of educating the whole child. Kindergarten is the foundation, and just like a house, we have to lay a strong foundation to prepare our children for academic achievement.”

That interdisciplinary approach could be seen in the youngster’s rendition of “Frere Jacques,” which saw the students use the skills they have been learning in their FLES classes, singing the tune in English, French and Spanish. 

“I've been working with [FLES] teacher Claudia O'Reilly since she started her last year,” said Ness. “For each of our concerts, we try to find one song that we can sing in Spanish [or French] and she's worked with the children, helping them to practice the songs."