For the second year in a row, Pine Ridge Elementary has decided to do their school-wide lip sync, and they hope to make it a tradition.
Pine Ridge principal Nathan Peltz decided to do the lip sync for the second year with the hope that more students would decide to do it this year, and he was pleasantly surprised. Last year, they only had 10 to 15 groups of four to six students, but this year, they have about 35 groups of students.
“Last year’s [lip sync] was fantastic,” Peltz said. “We had fewer acts last year, but the students had a great time. They were talking about it after, and I even had a few students come up to me after and ask if we could do it again next month.”
Peltz is glad to have more groups of students this year because he was hoping to give them opportunities that they don’t always get to have in elementary school. They don’t have the opportunity to perform on their own time and don’t have the chance to have some fun with it. Peltz and Pine Ridge teacher Brandon Greer are some of the people who wanted to change that.
“I think that [the lip sync] is really important [to build stronger relationships with my students],” Greer said. “I think Peltz does an amazing job of building a community, and I think that it’s really for the students to see staff members outside of their classrooms, and it helps them humanize their teachers. They see us using our non-serious voices and see [us] laughing and dancing. They see that we really do have a fun side.”
Greer enjoys the lip sync because he gets to see the staff and students laughing and dancing together. He fears that since COVID, the laughter has started to drain out of the school days, and it’s become the same thing for them every day. He loves that they spend their time laughing and starting to truly build a community and family together.
He’s also incredibly excited for the students. He can feel their excitement around the halls and the lunchroom and can tell that they are excited to see their friends’ costumes and dances. One of the students who is really looking forward to the lip sync is fourth grader Maggie Petty.
“Me and my friend that did it last year thought that [in the summer] we were both going to do it together because we were so excited,” Maggie said. “But then, we ended up inviting one of my friends and one of her friends to join our group for the lip sync.”
Maggie is incredibly excited for the lip sync mostly because she’s excited to see the staff members do their own dances. She loves their costumes, props, and especially watching their dancing. One of her favorite things about her own group is their costumes.
“Last year, we wore hot pink and shiny costumes,” Maggie said. “Because of the big lights, the audience couldn’t actually see our faces, so this year we’re wearing leotards and tennis skirts. Two girls are going to wear white, and two girls are going to wear black.”
Although costumes are a big part of the lip sync, the props are also integral. While Maggie only has sunglasses for her props, third grader Wade Beal has props called Thunder Clappers. Thunder Clappers are large inflatable sticks that make a loud thunder-like sound to go with the song “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons.
“Me and my friends like to fight a lot with thunder clappers,” Wade said. “Everyone on my team likes to mess around, and then somehow I get wound into it. After that we play-run away from Remy, one of my friends. We also usually grab swords, go into the downstairs bathroom, and lock ourselves in so Remy can’t get us. Sometimes we even turn off the lights and use our glow-in-the-dark swords for light.”
Greer says that the lip sync has managed to bring the students closer to their friends and has helped them make more friends, but it’s also managed to bring the staff closer together. One of his favorite parts is rehearsing with his fellow staff members. He loves dancing and singing with them and enjoys everything about it.
“[One of my favorite parts is] the kids getting to see everyone outside of the classroom,” Greer said. “They get to hear our non-serious voices, and [I love] the laughter that comes with the dancing and singing.”
