Christmas, class as usual for Savugot’s first-graders

    Murphy – It’s been as normal of a holiday season as possible at Murphy Elementary School. Students are making ornaments, learning about Christmas around the world, and enjoying lessons centered around holiday favorites like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Polar Express and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
    “We’ve been busy,” said Kristina Savugot, one of the first-grade teachers.
    In her class, she had a “Grinch Day” on Dec. 11 to follow a unit on fables. The book was read to the students, and they completed a story board in which they identified the characters, setting, the problem and the solution in the story. The students made Grinch headbands and watched the animated film. They celebrated with green Grinch treats.
    The fun continued last week with her students getting to make ornaments with their photos, studying The Polar Express and making reindeer food while learning about them.
    “I try to make it fun the week before Christmas,” she said.
    Savugot has 12 students in her class, and two learning remotely. Each week, she sends the remote students all the supplies needed for her class’ activities. When they were going to study the science of what happens when a candy cane is placed in hot cocoa, she even gave those two students a packet of hot cocoa and a candy cane to try the experiment themselves.
    She said she’s been fortunate that her remote parents have been very attentive to the lessons so everything goes smoothly working with the two sets of learning styles – in-person and remote.
    Savugot also tries to be very clear in her virtual instruction to make it easier on them.
    She thought it was important to carry on her class as normal, with all the same lessons and activities in place as previous years.
    “I feel like the students, in spite of COVID affecting their kindergarten year, I feel that closes that gap, and still challenges them as if COVID never happened,” Savugot said. “The kids are doing well. They’re definitely making progress. They’re showing growth.”