Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – What do Spider-Man, a video game system, and a horse all have in common?
They’re all things local pre-kindergartners have asked Santa Claus for Christmas.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
MAKENZIE TAUBIN, left, and Bart Stevens, right, sixth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School, help Noah Simpson, a pre-kindergartner who attends the SAD 1 Preschool, write a letter to Santa Claus. This was the third year the sixth-graders have written letters for the pre-K children.
Last Wednesday, sixth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School teamed up with pre-kindergartners who attend the SAD 1 Preschool – located right across the street from the middle school – to help the youngsters pen letters to Saint Nick.
“This is our third year doing the letter-writing project,” said PIMS teacher Elaine Hendrickson. “It’s a good experience for both our students and the pre-K children. It gives our students a chance to interact with younger students, and an opportunity to do a ‘public service’ project by writing letters for the children.”
In both the morning and afternoon sessions, each pre-kindergartner was paired up with two sixth-graders who helped scribe the letters.
Once written, the letters were placed in individual envelopes and mailed to the North Pole. Students who finished up early read stories to their newfound friends.
“In the letter that they had to write to Santa, they had to set it up in friendly-letter format, so we talked about that the day before,” said Hendrickson. “They had to have the date, the greeting, the letter had to have two paragraphs – one that had at least three items the children wanted from Santa, and the second paragraph included whether the little one had been good or bad and what they were leaving for Santa to eat – they had to have a closing, and they had the little ones sign it.
“It’s kind of a hands-on, real-life experience for the kids to use writing in a practical way,” she said.
Sixth-grader Cody Lyford said he was surprised by what the kids wanted for Christmas.
“The little boy I worked with wanted mostly Spider-Man things … action figures, videos and games, plus Legos and a Nintendo DS, which is a portable, handheld Game Boy,” said Lyford. “I was surprised that kids that little would want something like that, but one kid had one in his backpack.
“The girl I wrote a letter for wanted a horse, horse toys, and clothes with horses on them,” he said. “She really likes horses.”
Lyford said it was fun interacting with the children.
“It’s completely different from what we’re used to in class,” he said. “It’s really fun. With some kids it’s easier, but others it’s really hard because they’re shy and won’t really talk to you so you have to do something really funny to get them to talk.
“The little girl was more upfront and told me exactly what she wanted,” said Lyford. “The boy … he kind of wasn’t really sure what to think of me, so he kind of mumbled a little bit. It was fun though helping kids figure out what they want for Christmas.”
Student Taylor Willey said it was “pretty fun to talk with the kids, learn what they’d like for Christmas, and to see if they’ve been good and what they’re going to leave for Santa Claus when he comes.”
“The kids told me they were going to leave chocolate chip cookies and milk,” said Willey. “Chocolate chip cookies are pretty popular.”
One of Willey’s young partners also wanted a Nintendo DS.
“I couldn’t believe that he asked for that at his age,” he said. “My afternoon kid wanted a brown chocolate lab.”
Willey enjoyed the experience and hopes the teachers continue the project next year.
“It was pretty fun for me because they can actually talk to me and I can see what they like and what they’re about,” he said. “Neither of them were shy, so that helped.
“I think they should do this project again next year,” said Willey. “I thought it was extremely fun, and it’s good for the pre-K kids to keep learning about writing letters to Santa and having this much fun.”
Pre-kindergarten teacher Enola Boyce said her students were very excited to have the sixth-graders come over and work with them.
“The little ones like having the ‘big kids’ come over and interact with them and have that one-on-one contact,” she said. “What was special this year is that some of the sixth-graders have little brothers or sisters in Pre-K this year. That was neat.”
Boyce offered a similar letter-writing project when both she and Hendrickson taught school together in Washburn.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
‘ELVES’ BIANCA McGIRT, left, and Torin Kennedy work on Madison Opert’s letter to Santa while Madison gets a sticker ready to decorate the envelope.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
WORKING ON THEIR LETTER to Santa are, from left: Hannah Stoutamyer, Meghan Legassie and Meg Casavant.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
SARA BARNES and her fellow classmate, Garrett Kidney, right, teamed up last Wednesday to help write a letter to Santa for Barnes’ brother, Cody. Barnes and Kidney are both sixth-graders at Presque Isle Middle School, while Cody attends the SAD 1 Preschool.
