Emma Shropshire and her third-grade class at Pine Ridge Elementary School recently read the book The Night Henry Ford Met Santa by Carol Hagen. The story centers on the question of whether Ford could have taken his idea for an automobile assembly line from the elves at the North Pole.
So, when faced with the challenge of decorating a tree to reflect the theme of the story, Emma and her classmates used Model T cars as ornaments.
It was all part of Pine Ridge Row, an annual holiday tradition at the Clermont school where classes from all grade levels are assigned, in groups, to read a book and then decorate a tree representing that book.
For first-graders Muriel Dominguez and Lucero Gomez, the assigned book was Llama, Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney. It’s about the young llama finding it difficult to wait for Christmas. To make the wait more bearable, he and his mother busy themselves with shopping, decorating and baking cookies — all kinds of fun things that build the excitement. Muriel, Lucero and their classmates decorated their tree with gingerbread houses and gingerbread boys and girls.
Principal Laine Obando said the students look forward to the activity, which provides double lessons in literacy and in charitable giving. “It’s a time for a celebration of literacy and it helps the students fall in love with reading,” she said.
On Wednesday, classes walked the campus in small groups viewing the trees and voting for their favorite using donated canned goods — each canned item equals one vote. The “Best in Show” winner will be announced on Friday. Donated food will be shared with Buses and Backpacks and the Faith Neighborhood Center.
