Laura Pritt
Contributing Writer
Hillsboro Elementary School students have been busy while waiting for Christmas to arrive. They have spent time learning about Christmas around the world, learning how to sing and play Christmas songs, and writing letters to Santa.
The upper grades developed a play to go with their transitions during their Christmas performance. The fifth graders even learned how to sew aprons. The students used them while they cooked breakfast muffins for the school’s special Student of the Month celebration for December.
On the morning of December 12, Christmas at Hillsboro Elementary arrived.
Snow was in the forecast but had not started that morning. Parents drove to school for breakfast with their kids and watched as the Students of the Month for December were announced. Some parents stayed and helped out in the classrooms as they waited for Santa and his elf to arrive at the school.
Just as the snow started to fall, Santa and his elf were spotted riding down Rt. 219 in a horse drawn carriage.
The students bundled up and went outside to the soccer field. They cheered as Santa rounded the corner and made his way into the schoolyard.
Santa and his elf were taken to the music room and every student was able to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Santa’s elf busily wrote every request on a list for Santa to remember as the principal took photos for the children.
As students awaited their turn to talk to Santa, a special guest reader, Phyllis Lubin-Tyler, went into the classrooms to read a Pearl S. Buck Christmas story.
Students spent the afternoon doing a dress rehearsal and returned to school for their Christmas program that night at 7.
The topper on the magical day came when students learned that the snowfall and dropping temperatures would allow them to sleep in because school would be on a three hour delay – and then canceled – the next day.