Grammy award-nominated children’s musicians hold a concert at Lincoln Elementary School

DeKALB – Lincoln Elementary School students attended their first all-school assembly in more than two years this week.

But instead of sitting in the bleachers, the students – and teachers – stood up to dance and sing along during the outdoor assembly, which was a concert with Grammy-nominated children’s musician Justin Roberts.

During the school day Tuesday, children’s musicians Justin Roberts and Liam Davis held two smaller assemblies with the students and created a song with third through fifth graders. Later in the afternoon, Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players performed a concert during an all-school assembly.

The band has been nominated for three Grammy awards, are nine-time Parents’ Choice Gold Award winners, nine-time National Parenting Publications Gold Award winners, Horace Mann Upstanders Award winners and EB White Read Aloud Award finalists.

The band performs kid-friendly, school-themed songs, including “Yellow Bus,” “Recess,” “Willy Was a Whale” and “Henrietta’s Hair.”

Jennifer Tallitsch, Lincoln Elementary School’s principal, said that the students have been looking forward to the concert assembly all year.

“We shared links to all of their songs at the beginning of the school year, and classroom teachers and the music teacher have been playing their songs,” Tallitsch said. “The students were able to sing along with them for many of the songs.”

Tallitsch said that the students sang and danced along during the concert.

“They were up and about, dancing, doing Conga lines,” Tallitsch said. “It was a nice, colorful day today. I think everyone needed it after the last few years of the pandemic.”

Tallitsch described the concert as “happiness the entire school could participate in.”

“The kids absolutely loved it,” Tallitsch said. “They were to connect with every age level. … The smiles on the students’ faces were priceless.”