December 23, 2015 at 3:37 p.m.
All I want for Christmas ...
FBLA/DECA members help elementary students write letters to Santa
All I want for Christmas ...
By Kayla Thomason-
Hilary Pekoc, a first-grade looping teacher at Crescent Elementary, had 16 of her 17 students present for the letter-writing activity.
This class was familiar with the program from last year and Pekoc said the children were excited to have the FBLA/DECA students in their classroom.
"They're all excited and I told them we were going to have helpers again and they were all 'yea' and today when I said that's what we were going to do next - 'yea,'" Pekoc said.
When the students were in kindergarten they were asked to make a list of what they wanted for Christmas, but in first grade the youngsters are encouraged to write sentences and give more thought to their responses.
"I thought it would be good to get them thinking about what makes them a good person and what kind of good choices have they made, because of course we want to reinforce that all the time and remember that we don't just automatically get presents at Christmas, maybe we should try and earn them," Pekoc said, adding that the assistance of the high school students was invaluable.
The younger children love spending time with the older kids and the older kids can provide hands-on writing assistance.
"For the teacher, it is really helpful because when you have 16 or 17 kids writing at the same time they all need a little support, they all need little reminders or they get stuck and so to have more adult support is really helpful," Pekoc said. "(The children) write a lot more and they write a lot better when we have more adults in the room helping them."
When she and her sister were growing up Pekoc said they had a large extended family and the older children would help take care of the younger ones. That experience was beneficial as she and her sister learned how to interact with younger students. Coincidentally, they both became teachers.
Pekoc feels that older students these days don't usually have this type of experience.
"I feel like a lot of the generations now they just don't get that automatic experience," she said. "As parents we're so protective that we don't let the big kids watch the little kids anymore so they grow up and some of them have kids and they never had that experience of younger kids and I think that (this event) gives them compassion and some understanding and empathy."
She added that the high school students who have visited the school already have those traits and work well with the younger students.
The high schoolers helped the younger students properly write their letters to Santa, which included a checkbox of naughty or nice, and space to list what they would like for Christmas.
Josie Berry, a senior at RHS and an FBLA member, enjoyed her first time with the students.
"I think it's so fun to see the little kids in our area and help them out with the simplest things," she said. "It makes their day and it makes my day too."
One of the children Berry was working with wanted an Xbox and Pokemon items.
Berry thinks it's very important for the younger students to interact with the older students because they can see how far they have come in school and it is a positive experience they can think back on.
"It's very important to see the younger kids and set a good example and know that even if I don't know that they are watching they always are," she said, adding that the letter-writing activity was a fun experience and she would do it again.
Berry also said she would like to work with children some day as a career.
Rylee Fisher, a first-grader, said she has been nice this year. She asked Santa for bracelets for Christmas.
"(I would like) pink bracelets and bead bracelets and blue bracelets," Rylee said.
She said she liked having the high schoolers in class.
Nicki Metropulos, a junior, enjoyed spending time with the youngsters.
"I love it and they do love it too because last year they were even excited," Nicki said. "They never want us to leave and they're like dragging on our leg not wanting us to go. They're so cute."
One of the children Metropulos was working with wanted an Xbox and a million dollars.
"I think it's great (that the children get to interact with us) so that way they know what they are getting into as they get older and they love working with us because they're the future and we're the generation above them," she said.
Another student, Ryley Hull, asked Santa for a Skylander Supercharger and an Xbox 360.
"I felt really happy (that the big kids came)," he said. "I mostly write stuff by myself but it's really easy if they tell us the question."
Fox Burke also asked for Skylander Superchargers, as well as Lego Dimensions.
He said he liked the one-on-one help he got from the high schoolers.
"I liked it a lot, but usually I write stuff by myself when I can't figure it out," he said.
Pekoc sent a copy of the Christmas letter home so parents can see what their children wrote. Of course, the original went to Santa at the North Pole.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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