Students from kindergarten to second grade from John H. Russell Elementary School on Marine Corps Base Quantico, performed in a musical production about the “Wonders of the Earth” on April 3, 2014. The students learned songs about the continents, islands, oceans and the animals that live there.

“We started rehearsing for this performance about six weeks ago,” said Jennifer Hafer, one of the teachers at Russell. “The hardest part was learning all the songs and dances. But once the children got it, we were able to really have fun with it.”

Each song was about different geographical regions on earth. The children donned costumes and masks made by the teachers and parents that matched their area while the backdrops for the play depicted the regions. Through this, the students learned about continents, islands and oceans and the animals that live there.

“The songs and costumes made it really fun,” said Hafer. “When the kids have fun, the teachers have fun and, we are very proud of their performance.”

While the production was fun and exciting for the children, they learned a lot.

“The children learned so much doing this production,” said Hafer. “This play covered many science and social studies standards as well as language arts and reading. The children were very excited and eager to learn the songs and their lines. This was a very powerful and fun way to cover standards.”

With the production being so successful, the school is looking forward to producing additional plays in the future.

“We are planning on doing another performance next school year,” she continued. “We are still considering ideas for the theme, but hope to find another fun production to incorporate learning across the curriculum.”