With the last of the year’s book reports turned in, projects completed and tests taken, students, teachers – and parents – could breathe a sigh of relief, sit back and enjoy the show.

And that’s what they did at both Farmington and Collegeville Elementary Schools, as the outlying rural sites put on their traditional holiday programs just before students left for Christmas break.

Thursday afternoon, Dec. 18, the students at Farmington put on their annual Children’s Christmas Program and Sing-A-Long with the program starting out with a performance by the fifth grade band. District music teacher Jason Ryan noted that the students have only been working with their instruments for three months and the small group performed Jingle Bells for the capacity crowd in the school’s cafeteria.

Poems were then recited by students in the Afterschool Program, with the fourth and fifth grade students then taking the stage to sing and dance to Let it Snow. Excited and dressed in their holiday finery, the kindergarten and first grade students performed Must Be Santa, and the second and third graders got the crowd tapping their toes to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Rounding out the roughly half-hour long show was the return of the fourth and fifth grade students, who performed Winter Wonderland, complete with bubbles doubling as falling snowflakes.

After the students concluded their songs, poems and dance routines, it was time for the audience to join in and sing along with another half dozen holiday songs, helping get everyone into the Christmas spirit.

Friday morning, Dec. 19, it was time for the Collegeville Elementary students to shine, as they hosted a Collegeville Country Christmas on stage in their multipurpose room.

Several songs were performed first by the transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classes, followed by the first graders with a song and a ‘We Wish You a ‘Hairy’ Christmas’ skit. Second graders used words and motions for their songs, utilizing some sign language, with the third graders offering up a couple of pieces from the movie Frozen, including the Ice Workers Song and Let it Go.

Handbells were utilized by a couple of groups to add to their performance, and the fourth graders sang a couple of songs before giving way to fifth grade band, whose members wrapped up the performance with an instrumental piece. Fifth grade teacher Mr. Silver led the band in their song, and also accompanied his class on guitar for the songs they sang.

The backdrop on the stage, which featured several snowmen, had each class responsible for decorating their own snowman and the crowd had plenty of cell phones and tablets in tow to record the festive program.

For teachers and staff, the show was the culmination of weeks of practice and for the students, it was a way to present a special holiday gift to their family and friends.

Schools in the Escalon Unified School District went on winter break after the close of classes on Friday, Dec. 19 and will resume on Monday, Jan. 5.