<div>It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Friday, December 5th, 2025.The Glacier View School gym was packed for the annual holiday concert earlier this week. Primary students played “The First Noel.” Fourth graders debuted a piece they wrote themselves. Others performed a medley of Latin Christmas songs.It sounded different than a typical school concert. There were pianos… Lots of them.This tiny Mat-Su school has built the only known schoolwide piano ensemble in Alaska.Glacier View School sits north of Sutton at Mile 100 of the Glenn Highway. The K–12 school has about two dozen students. There hasn’t been a music program there in years. Few students had even touched a piano just a year ago.Today, every student can play. Glacier View transformed its music education thanks to Principal Wendy Taylor and the persistence of retired music educator Paula Gray.The idea started a decade ago when Gray discovered a method called Recreational Music Making, or RMM. The approach uses collaborative music to teach students at all levels. She then found a digital piano ensemble curriculum that replaces traditional orchestra and band parts with layered piano arrangements.“I want to do that,” she remembers thinking.Gray brought the idea to Taylor. The response was immediate.“Go for it,” the principal told her.From that green light, the most unlikely music program was born.“Now they all can read music and keep rhythm,” Gray says. “My jaw is on the ground at what these children have been able to do.”Paula Gray retired to Glacier View after more than 40 years of teaching piano. She also spent time doing ministry — in prisons, on the streets, and with foster care.This piano program is another way to help people connect through music for her.“It helps with brain integration, but more than that, it builds character,” she says. “It’s a joy.”The program began last year with just three electric pianos. Today, there are 15, including several 88-key weighted instruments that Gray purchased herself.The program’s success was clear at the concert. Nineteen students and a few of Gray’s private students performed for over 100 community members in the packed gym.“The music really brings the whole community together,” Gray says.It is the little school that could in every sense.The piano ensemble has grown quickly, and the school hopes to replace keyboards with higher-quality digital pianos to meet the demand.Community members interested in supporting the program can contact Glacier View School directly.And there are so many holiday markets to enjoy tomorrow!The Mat-Su College Art Department Makers Market runs today from 3 to 8 p.m. and continues tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.It’s first Saturday so that means the monthly vendor market at the borough gym runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.The annual holiday bazaar at the Trinity Lutheran church is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The church is at 10355 East Palmer Wasilla Highway.There are a few holiday markets in Wasilla, too.Midnight Sun Family Learning Center is hosting a holiday market from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 7275 W Midnight Sun Circle.The Knik Tribe Holiday Craft Fair runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2501 E Bogard Rd. in with traditional jewelry, woodworking, pottery, resin arts, and more.The Wild Winter Market is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Little Lake House at Lake Lucille, 454 Lake Street in Wasilla. Bundle up and explore an outdoor holiday market hosted by Alaska Wild and Free and Live Local AK At Stillwater Cottages.Check out our listing of other weekend events on yesterday’s Page 2 on our website bigcabbageradio.org or our Facebook page.Page 2 airs weekdays at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11:55 a.m., and about 6 p.m.Please support Page 2 News. Donate today.Page Two articles are written by Emily Forstner, Lee Henrikson, and David Cheezem. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Friday, December 5, 2025.</div>

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It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Friday, December 5th, 2025. The Glacier View School gym was packed for the annual holiday concert earlier this week. Primary students played “The First Noel.” Fourth graders debuted a piece they wrote themselves. Others performed a medley of Latin Christmas songs.

Page 2 Dec. 5: The Little School That Could

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It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Friday, December 5th, 2025. The Glacier View School gym was packed for the annual holid

Page 2 Dec. 5: The Little School That Could

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