Chicago elementary school decks the halls with Christmas carols to kick off winter break
Winter break is here for Chicago Public Schools Students, and at one school in the Pullman neighborhood, that meant a loud and festive sendoff before heading home for the holidays.
Inside Edgar Allen Poe Classical Elementary School, children packed the main lobby on Friday, filling the staircases and sitting on the floors, ready to carry on a long tradition.
On the Friday before school lets out for winter break, staffer Shyrnaa Brooks led students in Christmas carols in the school hallways.
Former teacher Barry Elmore said the school started the sing-alongs in 1976. He carried on the tradition until he retired a few years ago and now comes back.
"We sang carols every year, and it was a really nice family get-together, because we had the whole families here. This place was really packed. You thought it was packed today? You should have seen it with parents all around the edge," he said.
For the past 48 years, it has been a tradition here at Poe for kids to sing Christmas songs, echoing in the hallways.
"We had it down here by the Christmas tree, by the stockings to recreate that feeling of being in a living room. Now we have a gym, we have a nice stage, and I appreciate all that, but we really wanted to create that sense of intimacy that we had when we first started," said Poe principal Eric Dockery.
The kids sang Christmas songs like "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Feliz Navidad," Mariah Carey's iconic "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
The performance also included a Christmas tap dance routine.
During intermission, Dockery entertained the children by cracking a few jokes, some of which they didn't find funny.
"A lot more homework. Everybody wants homework!" Dockery said. "Yeah, we have a lot of fun. You know, not just for today, we have fun. Again, this is a family."