Category: Albums

Worth a thousand words

Posted on by indy

Words certainly convey information – but as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
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That was true for St. Johns Public School students this past week, thanks to illustrator Tom Woodruff’s creative talents that brought Michigan history into elementary school classrooms across the district. Native American culture and traditions and the beauty of nature and its influence on the development of the Great Lakes State were brought to life through Woodruff’s artistic talents during hands-on drawing sessions and a community workshop.
Students, created their own interpretations of Woodruff’s original drawings during the grade-level sessions. Woodruff provided a verbal history lesson about the objects that he sketched while explaining the illustration process as the students followed along. He also answered questions and signed a number of the student’s drawings.
Primary funding for Woodruff’s visit was provided by St. Johns Schools Foundation for Excellence, a non- profit organization that works to support district-wide programming and projects which are unable to be funded from the district’s operating budget. Additional funding came from Parent Teacher Organizations (PTO) at each of the elementary school buildings: East Olive, Eureka, Gateway, Oakview and Riley.
To view Woodruff’s art work, including prints from his various books, visit www.woodruffdesigns.com

Mint City Singers record concert

Posted on by indy

On October 16 the Mint City Singers performed a range of songs, from “What a Wonderful World” to classics of Mozart (Ave Verum Corpus) and Thomas Tallis (If Ye Love Me). Soloists and instrumentalists rounded out the program with the combined singers and chime choir of St. Johns Lutheran Church.
The Mint City Singers were formed this summer under the direction of Marcus Roll, a graduate of St. Johns High School.
Now you can see and hear some of the music they performed. http://16oct2011concert.blogspot.com/2011/10/community-concert-recordings-oct-16.html
Seek ye First arr. John F. Wilson –Mint City Singers
What a Wonderful World arr. John D. Miller –Mint City Singers
God Himself is Present arr. Paul Rosene –Chime Choir [9:30]
Something George Harrison –Lucas Roll, ukelele; Marcus Roll, tenor [16:50]
Duets for Trombone Benjamin Coy –Lucas Roll, bass trombone; Emily Roll, tenor trombone [26:20]
If Ye Love Me Thomas Tallis –Mint City Singers [33:50]
Ave Verum Corpus W.A. Mozart –Mint City Singers
By His Stripes Andrew Francis –Mint City Singers; Chime Choir

Students learn about life long ago

Posted on by indy


Kindergarten students at St. Joseph School in St. Johns learned about history in a fun kind of way as they recently traveled to Peacock Road Tree Farm to learn about life long ago.

The students were given a guided tour of a backwoods log cabin by farm owner Farmer Ed Carpenter who explained what a typical day was like for our ancestors. No TV, no computers, no electric appliances. The students were amazed by the simple accessories that were the essentials of frontier living.
From the cabin the students rode to a one-room schoolhouse where Carpenter described how the school building would have several uses, sometimes serving as the town hall and church.
A visit to the farm’s animals was followed by the highly-anticipated pig races” around a small oval racetrack. The pigs seemed to have as much fun as the students did.