My cousin Grant teaches 2nd grade and across the years he has creatively used my music within his classrooms to lighten the mood, maintain order, inspire minds and ultimately teach lasting lessons in an interactive format — this lesson tops them all.
If you recall, I visited his class back in 2008, where we co-wrote a new version of my song The Bus. It was a really fun experience to show them a previously written line and then ask them to recreate it, in their own words, using the same structures and syllables, but totally unique to them.
This time, years later, his 2010-2011 class has been studying my song We Grow from my album Long Before the Wheel and learning about metaphors in the process … to my everlasting joy, they’ve written and recorded their own version of We Grow.
Check out Mr. Bushman’s 2010-2011 2nd Grade Class from Heritage Elementary School in Nibley, Utah singing their own version of my song We Grow.
WE GROW — BY TYLER STENSON & 2nd GRADERS
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/other/mr-bushmans-class-sings-we-grow.mp3|titles=tylerstenson.com,Mr Bushman’s 2nd Grade Class Sings We Grow]
WE GROW
Lyrics by Tyler Stenson and Mr. Bushman’s 2nd grade class
NOTE: The italicized words are theirs.
I heard you say that you wish I stayed
An older version of me — long before my change.
If we’re not growing we are staying the same,
So I will welcome the change and stretch myself day to day…
We’re entitled to change, we grow
Like baby to man
Like ideas of Mr. Bushman
Like the airbag inside of a van
Like things from a recycled can
The change is going to happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
If a seed can grow into a tree
And if that tree can grow leaves,
How is that different than me?
We both breathe and we come from the dirt
And that’s where we will return
When both of our seasons fade…
We’re entitled to change, we grow
Like dust on a mat
Like the wings of a small baby bat
Like a kitten growing into a cat
Like the whiskers from a beautiful rat
The change is going to happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
If we’re not growing,
We are staying the same,
So, I will welcome the change
And stretch myself day to day
We’re entitled to change…
We’re entitled to change, we grow
Like egg into bird
Like the little baby cows in a herd
Like adding suffixes to a word
Like a 2nd Grader moving to third
The change is going to happen real slow
But not a day goes by we don’t grow.
THE ORIGINAL WE GROW:
[audio:http://www.tylerstenson.com/audio/wheel/we-grow.mp3|titles=tylerstenson.com,We Grow]