Southwest Elementary Students Bring Holiday Cheer to Neighbors at Kaplan Early Learning

Beth DeFeo dropped by Kaplan Early Learning Co. this morning to hear her daughter Evie join the other kindergarteners from Southwest Elementary School in singing holiday songs to the Kaplan employees.

Evie has been working hard at home for the past few days to get ready, DeFeo said. “She has been singing ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ over and over. Those reindeer have some interesting names.”

It has been more than 20 years since Janice Council, a now-retired kindergarten teacher, first made arrangements with Kaplan, which is just down the road from Southwest, to come by and sing some holiday songs. With a few exceptions, kindergarteners have come to Kaplan every year since.

“It makes our Christmas – seeing little kids,” said Mike Miller, Kaplan’s showroom manager.

This morning, such employees as Lisa Raines, Pam Marty and Beth Miller gathered in the informal concert area that had been set up the warehouse space off the showroom. “It’s a great way to start the holiday,” Raines said. A few minutes later, about 55 students under the leadership of music teacher Gloria Allen got off the activity bus and trooped in.

“Rudolph” and the other songs, which included a Hannukah song in which they spun as if they were the four-sided tops called dreidels, got an enthusiastic response from the employees. “Love it,” said Miller. The annual experience is a lot of fun for the teachers, too, said kindergarten teacher Debbie Dosek, who has been coming since 1989.

The stop at Kaplan was part of a whirlwind tour. Earlier in the morning, the kindergarteners sang at two assisted living communities – Clemmons Village I and Clemmons Village II. The residents enjoyed the experience so much that the staff talked with kindergarten teacher Tiffany Larson about the possibility of coming back for Valentine’s Day and other occasions. And, on Thursday morning, they are scheduled to head over to West Forsyth High School.

On the way out, several of the kindergarteners wished the adults they passed a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A little girl at the end of the line told the adults she thought it would be a good idea for them to wish her a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. So they did.