By Amore du Toit
Stettler Elementary School has been busy with Christmas concerts. Our Grade 3, 4, 5 concerts and our kindergarten concert were this past week. All the concerts were well attended and the students did a fabulous job. Congratulations to Tricia Kirby and to the kindergarten teachers for all of their hard work.
The Home and School also had bake sales at the evening concerts. Thanks to all parents for contributing to the bake sale. Our Grade 1, 2 concerts will be this week.
On Tuesday, Dec. 14 the Grade 4/5 book club celebrated the season with a Christmas party in the library at recess. Music, games and goodies were enjoyed by the more than 40 members.
In the new year, the book club will be hard at work publishing a school joke book, so put your heads together over the holidays and come up with a joke or riddle that we can add. There is a box for jokes in the library. The book club will also be preparing for the annual Used Book Swap and Sale. Send those books to be swapped to school in early January, please. Nothing will be accepted after Jan. 21st.
The Grade-2 classes have been working very hard at preparing a special Christmas gift for their parents. (Sorry, no hints parents.) The Grade-2 students are also having fun with our mini-unit on the Polar Express. Grade- 2 classes will have their Christmas craft morning on Thursday, Dec. 16. We’ll make four Christmas crafts and ornaments instead of exchanging gifts.
Karen Rachar’s Grade -33 students did a readers’ theatre titled “Nothing Much Happened Today” for Terry Jacksons’s Grade 1 class.
Grade-1 class has enjoyed “flying” (thanks to Google Earth) to many different destinations to see how Christmas is celebrated around the world. The first stop was Mexico, where the students celebrated “Los Posadas”. Students went door to door and were told there was “no room” until they arrived at the house with the Nativity scene present and were invited in to celebrate. Next we were off to Israel to learn about Hanukkah. Here students enjoyed latkes hot from the pan and played dreidel with their friends. Students lit the first candle on the menorah symbolizing the first night of the Festival of Lights. Students then flew to France where their tour guide Pierre told them all about Pere Noel. While they were touring Paris, the students left one of their shoes in front of the fireplace (French Christmas tradition), on their return Pere Noel had left them a gift in their shoe. Students were very glad that Pere Fouettard did not visit them, for he only leaves switches for the very bad children (ouch!). Canada was the next destination. Stopping over in Saskatchewan, then Quebec, and lastly in the Maritimes, the students learned that there are many different Christmas traditions celebrated in their own country. The very last destination on the students’ passport was the North Pole. Elfy was a great tour guide of Santa’s workshop and after he shared Santa’s virtual message with the class he surprised all the students with individual letters from Santa himself.
Grade-4 classes wrapped up their “Waste and Our World” unit by organizing a school-wide litter-free lunch. Thanks to parents for packing food in reusable containers. Our great students will enjoy a movie on Friday, Dec. 17 to wrap up before Christmas break. The staff at Stettler Elementary School would like to wish all a peaceful Christmas.