TodayKindergartners surprise teacher with a ‘wedding’
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Add This
Article RatingImages
Rice Elementary Principal Dean Clepper escorts Connie Gilmore down the paper aisle as kindergarten students watch during Thursday’s surprise "wedding" for the soon-to-be bride. (Michael Bupp/The Sentinel)
Alissa Fahnestock, 6, left, and Hannah Fronk, 6, blow bubbles during the mock wedding. (Michael Bupp/The Sentinel)
Like most traditional brides, Connie Gilmore wore white. But she also donned a bright tunic and orange flip-flops.
That’s because Gilmore didn’t know when she walked outside W.G. Rice Elementary School Thursday afternoon that she was about to become a blushing bride in a mock-wedding ceremony.
Gilmore’s fiance, Nate Schuff, waited with anticipation under an old oak tree as his bride walked toward him. Equally as excited was an audience of more than 100 kindergartners, who watched from blankets on either side of a white paper aisle.
"It’s a beautiful day for a wedding," joked Superintendent of Patricia Sanker, who administered the "vows."
But this was no ordinary ceremony.
Several teachers had spent months planning the "wedding" ceremony for Gilmore, a kindergarten teacher whose real ceremony is scheduled for later this month.
A surprised and tearful Gilmore was quickly outfitted with a white veil, golden slippers and bouquet before Rice Principal Dean Clepper escorted her down the aisle as the "Wedding March" played from a boombox.
Students read
A teacher and a group of kindergartners read a poem about love before the couple exchanged their "vows."
"Do you, Mr. Schuff, promise to help Miss Gilmore with her bulletin board? Do you promise to not make her cook on Friday nights and go out for pizza instead?" asked Sanker, who led the Thursday morning ceremony.
The mock wedding was intended to incorporate academics into students’ real-life experiences, teacher Kim Sunderland says.
"There is a real-life connection here," said Sunderland, who read the students a book about baking a wedding cake.
She said the event also helped to develop "sense of community and family."
Kindergarten teacher Stephanie Kuhn said about half of the students had attended a real wedding but the other half weren’t sure what a wedding is.
"We wanted to make the event meaningful to the students and integrate both the caring aspect and the academic components," Kuhn said.
Students planned for the event by making tie-dye flowers as crafts and learning poetry about love.
Traditional bubbles, too
For entertainment, they sang: "If you think Miss Gilmore should get married, clap your hands," to the tune of "If You’re Happy and You Know It."
"This is my first wedding," said 5-year-old Jared Rubert. "I liked blowing the bubbles."
Classmate Brianna Progar agreed. "The bubbles were fun. But I liked reading the poem, too, because I like to read."
She won’t forget
Gilmore, who wore a shiny plastic wedding band on her little finger, said the mock wedding was a complete surprise and joked that it was good practice for the real thing.
"This was so sweet," she said. "It’s something I’ll always remember."
