Christmastime traditions in Weiser are looking and feeling quite different this year. In a typical year, music teachers would be planning their Christmas choir concerts, teachers and students rehearsing their plays to present to family and friends as we draw closer to Christmas. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, students will be delivering holiday performances a little bit differently.
The Pioneer students will be participating in creating a virtual concert this year. Mrs. Thomas explained that she has gained new skills in video editing with all the virtual teaching that has happened this year, so she decided to try to make the Christmas season as special as possible for the kids and their families. Because of the restrictions on group activities, Mrs. Thomas is using the power of technology to bring the kids together, with social distancing standards, and record each child one at a time, compiling the students in videos individually. She will also be putting the kids in fun locations to add to the fun. Unfortunately, not every student will be able to be featured unmasked, but Mrs. Thomas assures that they will do their very best to make sure every child feels special. Even the online students will get to participate. “Due to the lag during streaming, it is impossible to have all the children sing at the same time…unless we record them each individually! Instead, we thought it would be fun for the kids at home to recite a Christmas poem to add to our show!” Mrs. Thomas shared. Everyone is excited to be bringing everyone together in a unique way this year.
Mr. Turner, the choir teacher, also wanted to do something special this year. There has been so many cancelations and changes to routine this year and Mr. Turner didn’t want to cancel the Christmas choir tradition. So, like Mrs. Thomas, he decided to get creative by recording students in smaller, socially distanced groups by class. Later, the recordings will be edited and compiled to be shown virtually to students, family, friends, and anyone interested in watching. Recording began this week at the High School auditorium, where you can see in the featured photo students gathering (while distancing) to sing and record. Mr. Turner and students will be crazy busy for a while, but the effort will be worth it!
Stay tuned to LivingintheNews.com later this month to view the hard work teachers and students are putting into this virtual event!
