WINCHENDON – Every so often, Memorial and Toy Town elementary schools in Winchendon hold Spirit Week, an effort to lighten up the serious task of learning. The fun continues this week, in spite of the fact that both schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Memorial School Principal Michelle Atter said the decision to go ahead with Virtual School Spirit Week was made after consultation with her counterpart at Toy Town, Maryalice Aker.
“Mary and I talked about things we could do to keep kids engaged,” said Atter, “trying to keep connections with our students. The teachers have been doing an amazing, amazing job trying to keep connections with their students. I have teachers that have created Facebook pages. Some teachers are Zooming with their families and students, having facetime with them. The kids and parents are posting pictures of what they’re doing at home.
“We still want them to be kids. And we want them to know we’re here and that we do care. Because they can’t be with us at school, we can somehow connect with them by other means. So, we decided to do a little something more.”
Atter said the Memorial School Parent Teacher Organization had first discussed holding a spirit week.
“I thought, ‘Oh, my God. That’s a great idea.’ So, Mary and I said, ‘Let’s do it — let’s do it together as two schools.’”
She said students are being asked to share, as best they are able, the things they are doing during spirit week. Atter noted some may be able to share via video feed or other internet options, but others may not.
“As you know,” she said, “we struggle with families who don’t have any technology in the home. But we’ve been able to accommodate those families. We’ve been able, for lack of a better term, to ‘get out there’ a little bit more with those families (the teachers) have at least had phone calls with, to drop of packets. They’re really going above and beyond to make sure these kids have something at home.
“Every family has a different stress level right now, whether they’re losing a job, or having a tough time feeding their children, so, the message is there are resources you can use at home. So, in regards to Sprit Week, it really depends on what means they have to take part in that. They could be sharing it with me, or classroom teachers are going to be posting it. I’ll be taking those pictures and putting them on our Memorial Facebook page.”
The lineup for Virtual Spirit Week: Monday was pajama day; Tuesday was holidays in March; Wednesday was wacky socks and hair day; Thursday, Disney Day (kids dress up as their favorite Disney character); and, Friday, Li’l Blue Devil day, where kids are encouraged to wear blue and white, the Winchendon School District colors.
“Hopefully this will inject a little fun into the lives of the kids and their families,” Atter concluded.