Pine Island alive with music

Pine Island - In the past few weeks, Pine Island Elementary has done things from singing and dancing under the sea to playing recorders at Carnegie Hall. The play for Pine Island this year included a singing crab, a prince, an evil sea witch and a mermaid who wanted freedom. “Under the Sea” swam into Pine Island on May 12 and 13 and entertained kids and grown-ups alike. Sebastian, the king’s helper, was played by Liam Hayes, and Ariel’s friend Flounder was played by Madyson O’Dell. Thomas Driscoll played King Triton and Morgan Kriegel was Ursula the sea witch. Louis the singing chef was played by Naomi Hanson. Prince Eric was played by Joey Forbidussi and Sara Wicks was the teenaged mermaid, Ariel. Principal Mrs. Hamburger played the narrator with her friend Dory, played by Carolyn Weller. The play went smoothly because of the weeks and weeks of practice. The cast of 80 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders practiced three times a week most weeks. Choreography was done by Mrs. O’Dell and she did an amazing job. The director, Mrs. Powderly, who is also a second-grade teacher, put in a lot of time, too. Songs and dances had sailors, merpeople and fish. With all of them doing different things, choreographing was hard, but they pulled it off. Another event this May was the fifth grade trip to Carnegie Hall. Ms. Jacque, the music teacher, played a huge role in getting the fifth grade to go and helping them play the songs on recorders. While there, kids got to listen to an outstanding orchestra. Then many schools got to play songs such as “The William Tell Overture” on their recorders. They could also choose to sing along with made-up words to the song. That day was a history/music lesson combined and the kids had a blast. Yet another event at Pine Island was Rainbow Sports day on Monday, June 5. Kids got to have fun all day playing games and rainbow events. At the end of a great day, before packing on their buses to go home, kids got to collect peanuts in a huge peanut hunt. These are just a few of the fun events that Pine Island Elementary provides for the students. There are just a few more events this year but there will be many more in the years to come. Eddie Wood is a cub reporter for The Warwick Advertiser, reporting out of Pine Island Elementary School.