Christmas started early at Okawville Jr./Sr. High this year. On Monday, December 19th, students in Mrs. Sarah Stine’s Language Arts class hosted Pre-K through 1st graders for Christmas story time. Section 8A spent the three weeks leading up to the holiday writing and illustrating children’s Christmas stories. 

“My favorite part of making the story would have to be coloring and drawing the pages,” said eighth grader, Brynn Rhodes.

The class provided hot chocolate and candy canes for the kids and also decorated the room festively. They printed and pre-cut paper ornaments for the grade school students to color and hang on Mrs. Stine’s Christmas tree. The tree was donated by community members Tom and Julie Stein. If time permitted, the elementary students also played “North Pole Freeze” with their 8th-grade friends. 

“I enjoyed seeing how happy the kids were about the stories,” said Emma Vuichard, another 8th grader. 

The stories included the following original works:

Oh, Patches by Justice Altenbaumer, Jared Bollmeier, Julia Helbig, & Lexie Kohnen

A Day in the Life of an Elf by Drew Berger, Blake Carrico, & Gunner Malott 

Christmas Countdown by Izzy Howard & Aaliyah Waskom

The Kids that Saved Christmas by Jilien Harre, Brynn Rhodes, & Schae Juenger

Stuck in the South by Gabe Charles & Braylen Turner

Get Ready with Santa by Emma Vuichard

Students Emil Galliano and Aiden Parker chose to enter the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra writing contest in lieu of story-writing, but they participated by working with Mrs. Stine on the event logistics. 

This was a very exciting experience for both the 8th graders and the younger kids. Penny Lintker, a 1st grader, listened to A Day in the Life of an Elf. “I liked when the elf played golf and fell in the marshmallows,” Penny said.

Mrs. Stine hopes to make the event a yearly tradition.