In the tradition of Jackson Walnut Park Schools, the students of Jackson Elementary celebrate the Christmas and Holiday season in joyful song. The Newton campus was aglow in light as this is the first time the students sang in concert on a home stage. The new JWP Student Center hosted the Jackson School concert on December 13.

Directed by music teacher Nick Linder, the Jackson Kindergarten and Grade 1 ensemble opened the concert with “Do You Hear the Reindeer” and the African American spiritual “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” replete with captivating hand and arm movements. Grade 2 followed with the sights and sounds of Christmas in “We Wish you a Merry Christmas and an energetic “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Among songs presented by Grade 3 were pieces that combined the multicultural with pure fun, the Spanish carol “Feliz Navidad” and “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”

Grade 4 mixed holiday pop, “Jingle Bell Rock,” with World War II era lyrics of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” with American rock in “Don’t Stop Believing.” Grade 5 brought spiritual beauty to “Silent Night,” joy to “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” and classic soul to Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” Grade 6 closed the concert with arrangements that recognize the global cultures of JWP families in “Christmas Time All Over the World,” a song that intersperses holiday greetings in many different languages; the birth of the Christ child in “O Come All Ye Faithful;” childlike humor with “A Perfect Winter Day,” and the spirit of generosity in “Happier.”

“And so, my friend wherever you are, Ein frohliches Weihnachten, Kala Christougenna, Yoi kurisumasu. This means a very Merry Christmas. Sretan Božić and Happy New Year.”