Thoughts at the 5th Grade Dance

This week the big school event was the 5th grade dance, which was held directly after school was dismissed.

Our principal, yesterday morning during the awards program, had given the fifth grade students valuable words to take with them as they moved onto middle school. Showing a clip from The Wizard of Oz, she spoke about the qualities they would need to live their lives: perseverance, courage, compassion, wisdom, and the love of family and friends. Yes, with these in their hearts, they will go and do something good in this world.

Before they leave elementary school, however, they had to have their 5th grade dance. 

Parents of the graduating class went all out for their fifth graders. Following the theme of "Hollywood," for which each and every student was honored with a star on the wall with their name on it, parents decorated the school gym with gold and white balloons, darkened the high glass windows with black paper, brought in a live DJ (a friend of the family, I think), and hired a local catering duo to provide tasty hot food. I was very impressed.

While the students changed their clothes, I drove home to let my dogs out. Some had brought something special and dress-up for the afternoon dance, but most wore what they had been wearing all day. By the time I returned to the dance event, they had already eaten and were in the gym on the dance floor.

Oh my! What I saw! Girls and boys dancing like I have not seen dancing. Nothing recognizable. I don't know what to call what two of the girls were doing. Very energetic, highly demanding postures, innocently suggestive. I may have seen that style a few years ago... Britney Spears I think. But what I've seen of her is not innocently anything. Maybe it's what they see when they watch music videos. I'm in the dark, you see, because I haven't watched a music video in possibly ten years. I should watch them just so I'll know where their influences come from.

I may be out of touch, but I'm uncomfortable with little girls dancing like that!

Although the girls were dancing like they had a figure to flaunt, the boys were very cool in their stepping, hopping, turning, flipping, and facial expressions. I’d say you would have to be an athlete to make some of the moves they made. The DJ guided them into dancing the usual line dances at one point, and even played one seventies tune.

After awhile, I left the gym seeking a cooler temperature and air flow. In the cafeteria I  had a bite of the tasty catered food while I spoke with the two ladies whose talents created the meal. There were sweet and sour meatballs, lightly fried chicken nuggets, vegetables and dip, fruit and dip, cake, and iced tea. It was much better than the usual fare of hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and sodas.

After I'd eaten, though, I regretted it. Something akin to indigestion continued until just about an hour ago. I'm sure it wasn't the food, but rather the problem I've been having with my stomach this week.

About 6:15 pm, the dancing stopped, the DJ took down his equipment. A large wide-screen TV was wheeled out onto the stage. A student-made slide-show was about to begin.

Before the slideshow began, however, all the students were herded out of the gym, and lined up alphabetically while parents and others set up chairs for viewing the slideshow.

The students were then introduced one by one as they re-entered the gym. One parent announced their birth names, their interests, and the middle school they would be attending (depending on where they live, they might go to SMS or HMS). When the student was introduced, he/she walked down the stairs onto the red "carpet" lighted runway. Parents could stand at the end of the "runway" to photograph their "star" as she made her walk in the spotlight of fifth grade fame.

I thought this was a special way of recognizing every student... not just the A-honor rolls, or the PE awards, the Music awards, or the Science Awards. To be in this spotlight, you just had to be a graduating 5th grader, and they were all that. Every student was honored for their unique, personal qualities. Very nicely done, parents!

The slideshow began after all the students were seated. Several students were introduced who had been working on it this week, putting together photos students had brought in. It was very cute. Cool, upbeat music had been added.

First, a baby photo of each student was shown, followed by a second or third photo of the student older. It didn't take long for the kids to recognize the pattern: baby picture, older picture, 5th grade picture. Within a minute, they were calling out in unison the names of their classmates as their picture appeared on the screen.

There was laughter, giggles, and gasps of surprise. I found it amusing that they were calling out a student's name when the baby picture was shown. There was clearly a great bond among these students, most of whom have been together since kindergarten.

What is particularly sad for them, though, is they know that they are being split up during their middle school years. Some will be attending HMS for three years, and some will be attending SMS for three years. The reality is that many of them will not see their best friends again until the 9th grade (unless of course there are home visits among them).

As I watched my students dancing and strutting their little stuffs, acting shy around each other except during the dance-off, I was happy for them. I was happy that they had completed their journey through elementary school. They will no doubt experience great anxiety about starting middle school, but they will persevere, and they will make it. They have what it takes to work with and around what life has dished out to them, and to succeed, whether because of it or in spite of it.

I knew the parents were happy, on the one hand, that this chapter of their child's life was over, and a new one was about to begin. However, as they stood watching their little ones, girls who no longer looked little in their heeled shoes, styled hair, and dance dresses and boys in their ties and dress pants, I'm sure they were thinking of the passing of time, and how the teen years were just around the corner.

I'd be worried if I didn't remember the wisdom that had been offered to them yesterday morning during the awards program!