MISSOULA – We headed over to the brand new Jeannette Rankin Elementary School for a very special school program for this Arts and Education report.
The bleachers were recently packed with parents, family members and friends to watch a special program written entirely by the students of Jeannette Rankin in dedication of the new school.
“Kindergarteners and first and second graders are doing some dancing and playing instruments — all the words they came up with for Jeannette Rankin,” music teacher Cindy Spangler said.
“Third graders, they thought recycling was a really important thing and so they are playing instruments player out of the recyclable instrument they made at home,” she continued.
“The fourth graders have four soloists that talk about the school and they wrote all the words. And the fifth graders, the greatest showman, the moving. They took the song This is the Greatest Show and changed it to this is the greatest school and they rewrote all the lyrics,” Spangler concluded.
Principal Christina Stevens said this journey of building a new school, then moving schools — and getting settled into a new building — has definitely had its challenges.
However as she watched this program and saw the smiles and laughs and overall appreciation that the students have for their new school, she says, it made all those challenges well worth.
“I know it was about our school, but I had no idea about how proud they were of their school. And it just got me teary-eyed. I am pretty proud of this school and I am really proud of our students,” Stevens told MTN News.
