Select Page

This year the pre-school through Fifth grade at The June Buchanan School celebrated Christmas in an interesting and festive way by boarding The Polar Express. Pre-school and Elementary instructors collaborated to bring Christmas and education together with a fun and informative day of holiday festivities based upon the book and movie, The Polar Express. Dean Amanda Clark said, “It was a magical time for the students. The students had a wonderful time and engaged in a variety of enjoyable learning activities. I want to thank all of the teachers who made this day possible!”

The day began with the reading of The Polar Express by Dean Amanda Clark. Then, each student received a train ticket to board The Polar Express. When they arrived at each train stop (classroom), the engineer (teacher) stamped the ticket and proceeded with a day of Christmas activities. Second grade teacher Amy Hofsess said, “My favorite part of Polar Express Day was spending time with all of the students. It was a time of learning the true meaning of Christmas, rather than simply the fact that they receive presents.”

The train stops were filled with activities such as making and eating sugar plums, creating reindeer food and trains, constructing picture frames with photos of their Polar Express tour, concocting snowman soup, and playing “The Conductor Says” along with other coloring and word games. Santa made a stop to see if each child could still hear the bell and gave them their first gift of Christmas! Students then came together to watch the movie The Polar Express and ended their festivities by comparing and contrasting the book and film. When reflecting on the day, Fourth grade instructor Heather Hammond stated, “It was simply a wonderful day spent together as a primary family. I enjoyed the friendship and Christian fellowship our students and faculty were able to share together!”

When asked about their experiences at The Polar Express, students enjoyed different aspects of the day. Syndey Wallen, a First grade student, said, “It was a fun activity for Christmas!” Second grade student Parker Hammond said, “Today was fun and exciting! I loved when we went to pre-school and made sugar plums. The games were also really fun!” Natalie Gibson, a Third grade student stated, “We made snowman soup, and we learned about how the three parts of the snowman could represent the real gift of Christmas.”  Fourth grade student Hannah Hall said, “I enjoyed watching the movie and reading the book!” Nickolas Cornett, a Fifth grade student stated, “We made reindeer and reindeer food. My favorite part was wearing pajamas and boarding The Polar Express.”

Kindergarten instructor Robin Cook summed up the day by saying, “It was polarific!”