When the National Christmas Tree is lit at the White House for this holiday season, the children in Ms. Polanco’s third grade dual language class at Maplewood Intermediate School will be especially excited! Their specially-designed ornaments will be on display representing all of New York State as part of the America Celebrates ornaments program. And this year is extra special because the White House will celebrate the 100th time the National Christmas Tree has been lit.
The students’ ornaments will adorn 58 smaller trees that surround the National Christmas Tree on the White House grounds. Students across the country were asked to design one-of-a-kind ornaments to celebrate the places they call home.
It was a tough selection process because the National Park Service and the US Department of Education could only pick the submission of 12 to 18 ornament designs from ONE classroom, at ONE elementary, middle, or high school from each state! Out of the 4,400+ schools in New York State, the students in Ms. Polanco’s class at Maplewood were chosen to represent New York! Each tree represents a state, a territory, the District of Columbia and schools managed by the Bureau of Indian Education and the Department of Defense.
The ornaments designed by the Maplewood students not only highlight Long Island. Ms. Polanco explained to her class they had to represent their entire state, so the creation of the ornaments also turned into lessons about the history and diverse environmental beauty of all parts of this wonderful state we proudly call home. This is a dual language class where, no matter what the student’s native language is, half the day is taught in English, and half the day is taught in Spanish.
The class’s special accomplishment is getting them a lot of media attention. Their story is being covered by Newsday, News 12, Newsday TV, WCBS Newsradio 880, and 1010 WINS. Plus the students will be honored by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on December 9th.
The 2022 National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony will be recorded on November 30th, and broadcast on CBS Television on Sunday, December 11th (8 - 9 p.m., ET/PT). The public is invited to President’s Park to view the National Christmas Tree and the 58 ornament trees from December 2nd through January 1st. If you can’t get there in person, you can visit the President’s Park Facebook Page for photos.
For more event information, visit https://www.thenationaltree.org
To see the ornaments page click here https://thenationaltree.org/ornaments/
You can also follow President’s Park on Facebook and Twitter.
Maplewood Principal, Dr. Hender, and Ms. Polanco’s 3rd grade class with their winning ornament designs.
TV & Newspaper photographers with Ms. Polanco’s class.
Students were asked to interpret this question: What Makes Your State Beautiful?
Below are the submissions from Ms. Polanco’s class: