Reed Celebrates Its Students With Art, Music, And Dance

By Eliza Hallabeck

If Reed Intermediate School students enjoyed themselves on Thursday, December 16, during the school’s first Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) full-grade level assemblies, Assistant Principal Anthony Salvatore said, “Wait until you see… what we are doing in March.”

 Two assemblies were held Thursday to recognized first sixth grade then fifth grade students who have successfully adhered to the school’s PBS model.

Last school year the Response To Intervention (RTI) model, which monitors a student’s academic achievement while attempting to reduce behavior problems, and the Positive Behavioral Support program, which addresses and ensures students understand what safe and appropriate actions and behaviors are, were implemented.

Thursday morning’s program, for each grade’s presentation, included students filling in paper hands with line drawings and their name. Each student’s created hand will be combined by the art department to form a banner.

Music videos were also shown during the morning, and were chosen for their ability to demonstrate the combination of visual art and music.

While the last video was being shown, Dr Salvatore said he was asked by one of the sixth graders if the students were allowed to dance. Dr Salvatore said he asked the student to wait just a little bit longer.

Just after the final music video ended, a group of roughly 20 sixth grade students began to dance to Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” song. Like a flash mob dance, where groups appear to spontaneously begin dancing, the students made their way to the stage.

“I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,” the song began, and, like that, the assembled sixth graders followed suit. Dancing in place, and following the dancing group’s example, other students began to dance in place in the school’s cafetorium.

The dance was choreographed by music teacher Michelle Tenenbaum, and was the brain child of physical education teacher Mark Gerace.

Mr Gerace said the students had the dance learned within one class period, and spent two weeks practicing to perfect it. Each of the participating girls kept the flash mob dance plans secret until the morning assembly brought the secret into the spotlight.

“We hope this will continue to be incentive for you to make good choices,” Dr Salvatore told the students at the end of the assembly.