kindergarten reviews, part 1
kindergarten reviews, part 2
third grade review - "autumn sweater"
third grade summer preview
fall 2003 reviews

*all names have been changed

These are a few of my favorite elementary school music reviews of the last year. Only a couple of the songs at best are actually FROM 2003.

"Up in the Treehouse" - Cody Chesnutt

Azi: Yeah.

Ondelle: (clapping crazily) Come on, people!

Miss Allen: Part of this song is about best friends. What does it mean to be a best friend?

Ondelle: It means share your pencils with them, walk with them, tell them their problems, give them some candy, if you have some.

Marta: Well, one thing is, if you have any of the same clothes, you can wear them on the same day. If you tell them you are twins, they might believe it.

James: When you have a best friend you can tell them a dumb joke and it is funny to them.

MA: Like what?

James: Like...with my friend Eli, who is my best friend since second grade, I say, "Eatie the pizza, sweetie!." And he goes crazy. But no one else thinks it's funny.

Azi: It's NOT funny.

MA: How do you pick a best friend?

Tasha: One thing I know is, make sure they are not going to do anything disgusting (in a tiny whisper) like to pass gas. And, you should treat your best friend so good. Tell them they look beautiful. Braid their hair. Give them a sticker if they cry. God gave them to you, so don't mess around.

Ondelle: My best friend makes me feel strong in my heart.

James: When you have a best friend, you feel like your life is good.

"Nowhere Near" - Yo La Tengo

This review is by two fifth graders that left me a note one morning: "Dear Miss A, We want to listen to your music. I am a DJ and Alden is a DJ. We are rappers too. We are experts of music."

Vince: Awwwww...

Alden: I thought we were gonna listen to GOOD music.

MA: You don't have to like it. But sometimes you can learn things from the songs you don't like.

Vince: What I learned is, don't listen to Yo La Tengo again in my life! This is the kind of song when, you know, you're in the car with your parents, you say, "oh man, dad, you gotta change the station."

Alden: Is Yo La Tengo on MTV?

MA: Maybe.

Alden: If I was on MTV, I would be so famous. I would buy 1,000 pair of shoes.

Vince: Did they ever play with 50 Cent?

MA: I doubt it.

Alden: Well if they want to be famous, they should.

"Big Darkness" - Crooked Fingers

(Thanks to Merge for sending this AND pointing out which songs have "swears" in them)

MA: What are your names?

Two 6 year olds: I'm Victoria Vila-Sanchez. She's Lexi.

MA: What grade are you in?

V and L: First!

MA: You girls need to start brushing your teeth and stop eating so much candy. Your teeth are all falling out.

Victoria: (Laughing) We brush our teeth! Our teeth fell out because we're getting our big teeth in!

MA: Oh, ok. I'm going to play a song and I want you to tell me what you think of it.

Lexi: This song is dancing in my brain!

Victoria: It's a sad, sad song.

MA: Why?

Victoria: Because the man...the um...

Lexi: the singer

Victoria: The singer is very old. And he's going to die sometime because he's old.

MA: Why do you think he's old?

Victoria: He has an old voice. Like my Papi. My Papi is 72.

Lexi: He sounds like a bear, because bears growl (thinks)...and that is like his voice on the song. Bears babies are called cubs. And when a bear stands on his back legs he is very tall.

MA: Those are some interesting facts.

Lexi: I know. I like to learn about bears.