Bloomfield native Rebekah Northern, the daughter of Early Childhood Center Principal JoAnne Westbrook, performed Christmas songs, covers and original music on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Lake Road Elementary.

Students were able to attend the concert as an incentive for doing well in school this semester. Those with perfect attendance and behavior throughout the month were issued VIP passes, and given the chance to meet Northern before or after the show.

This is the second time Northern has performed at Lake Road with violinist Bobby Lewis of Poplar Bluff [above]. Students made posters and sang along with Northern's songs.

[Below, from left]: Isabelle and Molly Berry of Lake Road wear custom-made T-shirts courtesy of their father Marcus Berry, the owner of Heartland Printing.

The Early Childhood Center held a 'Candy Land'-themed Christmas program on Thursday, Dec. 19, each class performing a song for the public which students rehearsed with their teachers.

DVDs of the program are available for $10 as a school fundraiser. Call 573-785-6803 for more information.

An annual tradition of the Kindergarten Center, over 400 kindergarteners went Christmas caroling on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 18-19, at area nursing homes and senior housing.

[Above]: Students, under the direction of teacher Fawn Luecke, sang several Christmas songs to residents of the Mark Twain Caring Center.

[Below]: Kindergartners hand out cards to residents at The Manor after singing them Christmas carols.

An annual tradition of Oak Grove Elementary School designed to promote physical activity and charity, students jogged for seven minutes [below] and brought in an art supply item per lap completed for the waiting room of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on Thursday, Dec. 19.

[Above]: Facilitator Debby Holt performs "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" prior to the Jingle Jog.

Click here to view all 30 photos that were added to our Jingle Jog album, and be sure to 'like' your favorite shots!

Officers from the Poplar Bluff Police Department delivered presents-including Barbie Dolls and toy trucks-to each of the students of the Early Childhood Center on Wednesday, Dec. 18, outside of the gymnasium.

An annual tradition beginning last year, the program was created to complement Cops and Kids through which law enforcement officials take older students-kindergarten through sixth grade-on Christmas shopping sprees.

Practical nursing students at the Technical Career Center adopted two families via Toys for Tots and took up a collection for the Homeless Veterans program on Wednesday, Dec. 18. Cosmetology students also participated.

Over $1,100 was raised for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the 5th & 6th Grade Center during the sixth annual gift-wrap fundraiser, which was initiated by sixth grade teacher Melanie Schalk.

[Above, from left]: School staff and students Lori Tibbs, Leslie Riefle, Kris Sittig, Kelly Lawson, Ady Kingree, Jeri Ann Lawson and Brylee Misner volunteered to wrap presents that community members brought in, and a donation was collected for the national research and treatment center.

[Below]: Tom Rankin of Poplar Bluff, who has made it a tradition to take advantage of the annual gift-wrap fundraiser, loads his Christmas presents onto a cart while special education teacher Elaine Woodruff helps.

Several students from the Graduation Center were awarded certificates for completing the Gateway 2 Jobs program with distinction on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce.

This is the third year the Chamber has offered G2J as a way for students to better position themselves to land a job following school. Chamber President Steve Halter credited Sharon Kissinger of Kissinger & Kirkman Investment Centre for helping the Chamber with the conception of the program, which targeted the Graduation Center for the first time this year.

Throughout the sessions over the past three months, the participants-beginning with about 25 students-were provided the opportunity to hear from local business professionals about topics such as writing resumes, completing interviews and the importance of maintaining a clean record.

[Above, from left]: Chamber President Steve Halter; G2J graduates Samantha Zitnak, Tiana Harris, Charles Partain, Dylan Weston and Jordan Hillis; Grad Center teachers Gaelle Freer and Jay Dowd; and R-I Superintendent Chris Hon. Not able to attend the ceremony was freshman Justin Nimon.

[Below]: PBHS Principal Mike Kiehne [left] and Poplar Bluff Mayor Ed DeGaris visit with G2J graduates following the ceremony.

Candace Hecker's computer lab class at the 5th & 6th Grade Center wrote more than 1,000 lines of code on Wednesday, Dec. 18, as a Computer Science Education Week activity.

The fifth grade students, led by computer lab instructor Lybby Dennis of Oak Grove Elementary, used blocks instead of text as they were taught the basic concept of programming through the popular game Angry Birds in the Hour of Code project.

[Above] Nine fifth grade students earned certificates for completing the first tutorial of writing code - 20 lines within an hour. [Back row, from left]: Lybby Dennis, Gavin Thomas, Brandon Smith, Madigan Franklin, Craig Crutchfield II and Candace Hecker; [front row, from left]: Cheyenne Wilson, Connie Taylor, Alyssa Brown, Sean Jaco, and Haylee Strouse.

[Below]: Media technician Aaron Badgley and R-I Superintendent Chris Hon [standing] visit with fifth grader Nick Edwards, who was one of the first students to pick up on the concept of writing computer code during a practice run of the CSEdWeek activity.