Celebrating Christmas at school

Since last weekend and the absolute tragedy back in the U.S. every time I come into school for work and I look at my beautiful, little girls I struggle. I can't explain why or how someone could commit such a crime against such innocents. I struggle to think of what I would do as a teacher in the same situation. I can't seem to wrap my mind around what happened when I look at my girls. My girls who want to show me their loose teeth and give me big hugs. My girls who draw pictures and jump rope at recess. I've just been sad, sad, sad. Today though there was a respite at school since it was the day we had our Christmas show. It was nice to be distracted for a day since I have been transfixed lately with news about Connecticut. Today was a day off.

Boy oh boy does my school take their Christmas production seriously. Today was the big day that each grade went up on a stage in our gym to sing a Christmas carol for their parents and family members but they have been practicing for weeks. Each grade came to school dressed up differently and their costumes are intense, well thought out and detailed. First and second grades came as shepardesses.



Adorable. Third graders were different cultures from around the world. Not what I would call politically correct but they got really into it. Spain isn´t exactly culturally sensitive so it didn´t surprise me to see girls dressed like Native Americans, Geishas, etc. I am not sure what this has to do with Christmas or their song but they were happy. Fourth grade was dressed all in white with red scarves and gloves (I didn't manage to get a picture of them). For girls who are used to wearing their uniforms you can imagine how special today was. And by special I mean that they lost their minds. Forget about getting anything done.


So all this preparation went into today´s performance and the girls were bouncing off the walls. We shuttled them all into the gymnasium to start the show. It was chaos. Complete and utter chaos. And not just from the girls. Their parents were all standing, talking, taking pictures, taking girls out of their places, being in general distracting. I thought after the songs started that things would begin to calm down. I was wrong. The parents continued their conversations, didn´t sit down, life went on for them. Talk about a bummer. I just can´t imagine the same thing happening in the U.S. Correct me please if I am wrong but I believe that parents there would respect the other parents and their children by sitting quietly through the concert. Not here. And I was sad for my girls. This is part of the reason why they have issues with classroom behavior (sitting down, raising their hand, not talking out of turn-do you see a pattern?). Things are beginning to become clearer for me. It was a long exhausting day but tomorrow marks the beginning of our Christmas vacation. It can't come soon enough!

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