The relatively recent workplace tradition of the lip dub has spread to Tuckahoe Elementary.
Tuckahoe staffers produced and starred in a music video set to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” as an “end of the year gift” to students.
The video is intended to be “something to make [students] smile and uplift them before they go off for the summer,” in the words of one teacher.
Two former students have helped to inspire Tuckahoe Elementary School to hold a big fundraiser for Japan.
The students, fifth-grader Keishu Watanabe and his sister, second-grader Saho (both seen in the video, below), moved from Arlington to Tokyo with their parents just weeks before the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Northern Japan earlier this year. With a personal connection to the disaster, “graduating” fifth-grade students and parents at Tuckahoe decided to raise money to help the victims.
Tomorrow, starting at 7:00 p.m., the school will host an “Anime Movie Night” featuring a screening of Ponyo, the Japanese adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The family-friend film has been dubbed into English, thanks to the voices of Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon and Betty White.
The screening is free and open to the public, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Donations, raffle proceeds and bake sale revenue will go to the ‘Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Fund.’ Kids are encouraged to wear pajamas and a yukata (robe), grab some glow necklaces and munch on arare (Japanese rice crackers).
Even though they’re halfway around the world, students at Keishu and Saho’s new school are so excited about the fundraiser that they banded together to make Tuckahoe a Senbazuru, a large hanging of 1,000 hand-made paper cranes. The gift — a symbol of peace and friendship — was sent to the school, where officials are now deciding on a prominent place to display it, according to Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia.
National Geographic is bringing a gigantic map of North America to Tuckahoe Elementary, part of an effort to get students more engaged with geography studies.
The map, measuring 26 feet by 35 feet and weighing in at 102 lbs., is one of the world’s largest maps of the continent. It will be on display from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10.
Students will be able to walk on the map, play interactive games and explore various geographic features.
“This is a unique and interactive opportunity to introduce and reinforce the geographic features of our great country with hands-on and feet-on instruction,” Tuckahoe principal Cynthia Brown said in a statement.
Screen capture via YouTube
