On November 25, the Lower, Middle, and Upper School Exceptional Children’s classes took a trip to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina (between Greensboro and Charlotte)  to ride the Polar Express! This was their first Polar Express field trip but their second train ride together as a class since they

previously went to a train museum called New Hope Valley Railway in New Hill, NC. The kids prepared for this exciting trip by watching the full movie in class the week before so they could spot the similarities between the Tom Hanks film and their special experience riding the train.

Because the children in the movie ride the Polar Express at night–so they’re wearing pajamas–all of the EC kids wore pajamas for their own ride on the Polar Express. Before boarding the train, the kids and their parents, who also got to attend, watched a 15-minute reenactment of the movie where the actors were dressed up just like the characters in the

movie. On the train ride, the children enjoyed music such as the “Hot Chocolate” song along with hot chocolate and cookies. During the song, the kids were surprised when Santa came onto the train and handed bells out to everyone just like the one Chris (the little boy at the center of the movie) takes home with him!

Back here on campus, the holiday fun continues. Coming up first, all three of the EC classes plan to make gingerbread houses with the Stronger Together Club on December 16 during lunch and Flex. The Lower School and Middle School classes will be performing in the Christmas musical on December 18 at 9:00 am in the cafeteria for their parents. They are playing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on makeshift drums, and some of the Lower School EC students are staying after their performance to sing multiple Christmas songs with the Pre-K and Kindergarten. After their special performance, they will enjoy a Christmas pancake breakfast with their parents.

Many members of our RMA community have taken some of the Exceptional Children’s Program’s Christmas spirit home with them. Mrs. Whitehead’s Upper School class made ornaments to sell at the beginning of November; they emailed to let people know when they were ready to be picked up. The students helped fill orders by decorating traditional round ornaments and then decorated bags to transport the ornaments. This year the class sold about 150 ornaments to the community and last year sold almost 200!

Mrs. Whitehead says that “Every day is a celebration in our classroom!” but the holidays make things even more special.