Our entertainment for yesterday evening was the Elementary Spring Program of Mount Vernon Christian School. The program was enjoyable, but it also demonstrated the music skills that each class learned throughout the year. Each class from Kindergarten through fourth grade had their own musical numbers – Sarah and her fellow classmates did a few songs, including the classic song about a bunch of monkeys jumping on the bed.

Particularly interesting to me were the second and third graders, who played instruments I'd never seen before called “Boomwhackers”. Each student had a long plastic tube, some longer than others. They'd hold it with one hand and strike their other hand with it to sound a hollow note – the longer the tube, the lower the note. Different notes used different colors. It seemed like a great way to teach the notes to the kids – and a lot cheaper than handbells!

Can you spot Sarah?