Our annual Veterans Day program was held Friday, November 11, at 1:00. Veterans from our school community were our honored guests, the Grisham Honor Band, Grisham Choir, and Grisham Orchestra performed, the Westwood ROTC Color Guard posted and retired the colors, and each grade level of Purple Sage students sang patriotic songs as part of our salute to the men and women of the American military. Many families and friends attended this community event!

3rd Grade students attended a live performance of Ballet Austin's The Nutcracker in December. Students attended Act 2 of The Nutcracker at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Austin on December 6. The Nutcracker ballet tells the story of a Victorian era family's Christmas Eve, a special gift given to young Clara, and her trip to the Land of Sweets with the Nutcracker Prince, all set to the music of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

MusicMakers performed on December 6, 7, and 16. The 4th and 5th grade students of Purple Sage's afterschool music club, the MusicMakers, performed a program entitled "MusicMakers World Tour" on December 6 and 7. The program included songs, games, movements, and instrumental music to represent the world's seven continents. The MusicMakers also took a field trip on December 16 to visit a local senior citizen community; they sang holiday songs and gave small gifts to the residents at The Clairmont Retirement Community.

The 5th Grade Honor Choir will perform at the RRISD Elementary Music Festival on March 3rd. Ten 5th graders will represent our school at the 17th annual RRISD Elementary Music Festival on Saturday, March 3, 2012 in the Round Rock Performing Arts Center. The members of the Honor Choir will perform in the district's Elementary Music Festival choir with approximately 300 fifth graders from RRISD's 32 elementary schools.

4th Grade students will attend a live performance by the Austin Symphony Orchestra on May 17th. Students will take a field trip to the Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Austin to attend a performance by the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Students will study the characteristics and sounds of the instruments of the orchestra and will study the music selections to be performed before attending, to enhance this unique learning experience.