May 27, 2016 at 4:14 p.m.
Nativity students learn about poverty during Red Nose Day
Nativity students learn about poverty during Red Nose Day
By Kayla Thomason-
Students and teachers filed into the gym, big red balls fastened to their noses.
The fourth-grade teachers - Ann Zemski and Jodi Peyer - bought red noses for their classes and asked their students to bring in $1 to secretly buy a nose for another classroom and that class would pay it forward.
"It was a lot of fun, they were really excited and they were really good at keeping a secret," Zemski said.
The Amazing Zach Man, a comedic magician, amazed the crowd with tricks and a good dose of humor.
After performing a few card tricks, he folded a banana and tucked it away in a black bag to make it disappear.
After the magic tricks, select students added to the laughter with some humor of their own.
In their classes, the children decided which of their classmates tell the best jokes. The chosen students got to share their jokes in front of the whole school.
Some of the jokes were: What stays in the corner and travels all over the world? Answer: A stamp. What belongs to you that others use more? Answer: Your name. Why did the tomato blush when it opened the fridge? Answer: It saw the salad dressing.
A few special guests, a white chicken and two sugar gliders, then joined the party and one of them was going to get kissed.
The school raised money for the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry's backpack program by labeling jars with various teachers' names. The teacher whose jar had the most money in it had to kiss an animal.
Joanne Siedschlag, the librarian, had the third highest amount of money in her jar at $34.80. Father Randy Knauf had the second most at $44.85 and the lucky teacher to pucker up to one of the guests was Brittany Gauthier, fifth-grade teacher, with $76.54 in her jar. Gauthier chose to kiss the chicken, to the delight of the students.
The school raised a total $246.75 for the backpack program.
The rest of their afternoon included relay races and a silly Buster Keaton old-time movie.
Despite all the fun, the children learned how prevalent poverty is, even in our own community.
"They're very excited (about Red Nose Day) and we talked a lot about poverty and how we don't think about it but it is even in our own community and how important it is to give back to people and to count our blessings because we have so many blessings we take for granted," said Zemski.
The students watched a little clip about poverty.
"I think seeing the amount of poverty that is in the United States, I don't think we're exposed to it as much here as in bigger cities and other areas," Zemski said.
Kaylee Younker
was surprised to learn that one out of five children lives in poverty.
She was also amazed by the magician's skills.
"I thought it was really cool and I didn't know how he did all those tricks," she said.
Devon Carpenter enjoyed all the fun activities, but was well aware the event was for a serious cause.
"It's not just about the candy and everything else, it's about helping the kids in poverty," he said.
He thought the magician was cool and seeing a teacher kiss a chicken was funny.
Liana Teter was shocked to learn how many children are affected by poverty.
"I was really surprised by how many children are in poverty," she said.
She enjoyed the activities and hopes the school has Red Nose Day again.
"I thought it was very funny and I have no idea how he did all those tricks," she said.
Morgan Nelson acknowledged that all of the fun activities were a means to help those in need.
"I learned that we're donating all of the money to kids in poverty and whose parents don't have enough money," she said.
This was the first time Red Nose Day was held at the school.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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