Conger Elementary School is looking to start a new tradition after it hosted its second annual Reverse Christmas Parade.
The parade was set to be done outside where parents and students could drive by in front of the school. After yesterday’s snow storm, the original plan changed and had to move the event inside the school Thursday.
There were seven different stations set throughout the school, all made by the different grades at Conger. Students walked around the school with their teachers to guess which movie belonged to the appropriate scenery.
The movies included A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf, Frosty the Snowman, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Polar Express and White Christmas.
Each class at Conger will now vote together on which scenery was their favorite, and then, will vote individually.
Students walked through the Polar Express scenery and encountered some of their paraprofessionals, and teacher, Michelle Distefano.
As they walked through, they were given a ticket to enter the large train.
Paraprofessionals Jenny Nunn, Heather Wisener, Lynn Byers, Angie Amos, Debbie Dillon and Nicole Abbott, all helped with the Polar Express scene.
“It was just a brainstorm idea we had that we came up with last year during COVID. It was meant to be an outreach and then the leadership expanded on that,” Distefano said. “The original idea was for parents to come and there would be a QR code so they could guess which movie each display was for and at the end, vote for their favorite.”
At last year’s Reverse Christmas Parade, some teachers and paraprofessionals awaited students and parents outside the school with signs that expressed, “Keep learning. We love and miss you.”
Along with the Christmas parade and Halloween events, the staff at Conger continuously reminded families they were in their thoughts when they were given food and handed homework packets last year during the pandemic.
“We were trying to get families to come through to connect with parents,” Wisener said. “It was a way for us to check on our kids as much as we could.”
aguilar-floresj@kfalls.k12.or.us