Fa La La La La La! Daycroft Students Delight Seniors and Shoppers with Holiday Tunes

Who better to help the holiday season ring with melodious cheer than the sweet-sounding, music-making students of Daycroft Montessori School (www.daycroft.org) of Ann Arbor?

Last Friday, December 9, Daycroft’s show choir – whimsically self-named The Treble Makers – joined with the school’s hand chimes ensemble to serve as tuneful ambassadors to the Ann Arbor community at large in a pair of spirited offsite performances.

In the morning, the students sang and played for residents of Brookdale Place, an assisted living facility for elderly and memory-challenged people on Ann Arbor’s southwest side.  The seniors heard “Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bells,” and other winter favorites.  A highlight was a spirited new twist on a classic: “Frosty the Snowman Hand Jive.”

Then the Daycroft crew dashed over to Briarwood Mall, where they entertained holiday shoppers with mid-day musical offerings near the Sears store’s entrance.  The students performed as part of “Beyond Bells,” the mall’s fourth annual program benefiting the Salvation Army.  Donations collected from shoppers there will help families in need.

Eighteen Daycroft students from grades 3 through 6 now take part in The Treble Makers.  The hand chimes ensemble currently numbers 14 students from grades 5 and 6.  Marlene Inman-Reilly, Daycroft’s music teacher, leads both groups.

For several years running, the hand chimes ensemble has taken one day each December to decamp from school grounds and conduct pre-holiday performances for seniors and shoppers.  The Treble Makers have participated for the past two years.

Later this week, Daycroft students will carry on another of the school’s holiday music traditions.  They will put on Winter Songfest, an ambitious and always enchanting program of instrumental, singing, and dancing performances.  The students’ Songfest audience will be Daycroft parents, family, and friends. 

Winter Songfest will happen this year on the evening of Thursday, December 15, beginning at 6:30 pm, in the gymnasium of the school’s Elementary Campus on Zeeb Road.  Daycroft students from kindergarten through 6th grade will take part.

About Daycroft Montessori School

Daycroft Montessori School blends the distinctive student-centered teaching methods of Maria Montessori with traditional and progressive teaching methods.  Daycroft thus accomplishes its educational mission: to provide a personalized learning environment that appreciates individual differences, nurtures the whole child, and enables students to develop at their own pace and achieve to their full potential.

Daycroft is one of Washtenaw County’s leading private schools.  It began as a preschool program in 1968.  Daycroft has since grown to include a full-day kindergarten program, an elementary school program through 6th grade, before-school and after-school care, summer camp programs, and enrichment classes.

Daycroft has earned accreditation from the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS; www.isacs.org).  It is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS; www.nais.org), and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society (AMS; www.amshq.org).

Daycroft Preprimary School (preschool and kindergarten) is at 100 E. Oakbrook Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.  Phone: (734) 930-0333.

Daycroft Elementary School (grades K through 6) and Daycroft’s administrative offices are at 1095 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103.  Phone: (734) 662-3335.