On Wednesday, March 5th, Gary Eller with the Idaho Songs Project (sponsored by the Idaho Arts and Humanities group) came and spent 2 hours with the 4th graders teaching them how to write a song. They learned about verse and chorus, about melody and why it is important to have a good one. Such as a tune that sticks in your head like an "ear worm" they thought that was odd. He had us write on the board things we love about this part of Idaho. Then we broke into groups and he helped each group write a verse to a song about Idaho.
We took an old tune that an Idaho teacher wrote in 1913 about her part of Idaho with her students, and used that for the tune to our song. The song is titled "Ol' Meadows Valley" the chorus goes like this:
Meadows Valley, Oh Meadows Valley, We think it's an awesome place to be, Meadows Valley, Oh Meadows Valley, What a lovely place it is to live and play!
The students wrote 5 verses, then Mr. Eller helped us put them all together and sing them. He taught them about rhyme and meter, and how important it is for songs. He then sang some of the songs he had found about Idaho. The students really enjoyed this, and they have made it a goal to be able to sing the song during our spring concert.