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Hilltop Montessori School preschool students sing on Monday, April 24, at Double Oak Community Church as part of the school’s Music and Art Appreciation Week. (REPORTER PHOTOS/KEITH MCCOY)

MT LAUREL – Hilltop Montessori School students are regularly exposed to art and music education, but the week of April 24-28 is special as the school’s Music and Art Appreciation Week.

Each spring, pieces from students’ art portfolios are used to make displays throughout the school, Head of School Michele Wilensky said.

Also, each student makes a special keepsake work of art.

Pieces can include windchimes, books, sculptures and more.

Even children in preschool—as young as 18 months old—participate by creating items such as T-shirts.

One of the themes this year was interactive art, so a set of wings was created that stretches down the wall of a hallway.

Students each created a part of the overall colorful piece, which satisfies the interactive theme because children can stand in the middle of the wings for photos.

Inscribed above the wings are the words, “Your wishes have wings, so let the wind blow!”

The musical portion of the week began with Hilltop preschoolers performing a concert at Double Oak Community Church on Monday, April 24.

About 100 children performed at the concert, which has been held at the church because the school lacked a stage—a fact that will change once Phase 3 of the school’s construction opens in the fall.

Then, other age groups performed “carpool concerts” throughout the week, in which they sang and played percussion and orff instruments outside the front of the school during times parents arrive to pick up their children.

“We’re having concerts every day,” Wilensky said. “It’s just a nice time to take time to celebrate the arts and music.”

Students drive the showcases, such as a group wishing to perform their own version of the song “Sweet Dreams,” written by Eurythmics.

Though many public schools struggle with funding for art and music education, Hilltop devotes an hour per week for each student in the third through eighth grades.

The school also offers private violin, piano, ukelele and percussion lessons.

“We do art and music all the time,” Wilensky said.

Find more pictures at www.ShelbyCountyPhotos.com.

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