4 minute read
From Creek to Chesapeake
KINDERGARTEN JOURNEY FROM CREEK TO CHESAPEAKE
Kindergartner Toby M. and his family were on their way to Philadelphia during spring break when they crossed over a large body of water. From the backseat, he asked, “Mom, is that the Potomac, Rappahannock, Susquehanna, or the James River?” His mother, both surprised and impressed replied, “The Susquehanna. How did you know?”
Toby and his classmates did not learn about the rivers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay in science class, they learned about the tributaries in Music and Movement as they prepared for the KinderGarden Blooms production Creek to Chesapeake. As they rehearsed the choruses of popular songs about water, they also absorbed the knowledge that the Gwynns Falls stream that runs through McDonogh’s campus eventually makes its way to the Chesapeake Bay.
Creek to Chesapeake was written in a few hours by Lower School performing arts teacher Cal Davis who says the script-writing flowed easily because local waterways are of interest to her. She says, “It’s exciting to make work about things that are around you. It may be more work for me, but because I care about it, it’s less work. And it makes me happy when kids can connect to real things in their life.”
She adds that the theme dovetailed with the Lower School spring learning focus on reusing and recycling— ways in which we can keep our rivers clean. But Davis didn’t just incorporate the theme into the script, she had students make their own costumes using recycled materials and fabric, and she created the backdrop for the show by reusing an art project created by lower schoolers during the 2022 PopUp Art Day.
The 30-minute production also included input from members of the third- and fourth-grade Laptop Orchestra who created, mixed, and edited the backing tracks for the songs in the show using a variety of online platforms. Davis says that involving the older kids not only creates a connection between them and the kindergartners, it also gives them an opportunity to collaborate on an actual project.
On the afternoon of the performance, with their proud parents seated in the audience, the kindergartners described the journey of water from Horsehead Creek on campus to the Chesapeake and ultimately to the Atlantic Ocean. Meandering throughout the show was a rap that illustrated the journey. It began:
The McDonogh creek called Horsehead Branch Red Run, Painter’s Mill, it’s like a baby avalanche
Where did we come from?
Where do we go?
To the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Oh—shun
As each of the four kindergarten classes became the focal point of the production, the rap picked up a few more lines to illustrate the journey. The songs Davis chose for children to sing also mirrored the size of the area tributaries. From creeks and waterfalls to the Atlantic Ocean, they sang Neil Young’s Cripple Creek Ferry and Waterfalls by TLC as well as Proud Mary/ Rolling on a River by Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beach Boys’ Catch a Wave. Davis was pleased that all the elements of Creek to Chesapeake came together in the performance and says she won’t be surprised when on a family road trip, from the back seat of the car, one of her students starts singing along to Billy Joel’s River of Dreams.
—Meredith Bower
