Students celebrate the story of World War I holiday truce

Dec. 22—HERMITAGE — Before going on Christmas break, the fourth-grade students of Ionta Elementary School shared the story of one Christmas full of particularly noteworthy peace — the Christmas truce of 1914.

As the first year of World War I came to a close in Europe, soldiers from both sides called a temporary truce during the holiday. The put down their guns to sing carols and play games.

This story was the focus of a musical program held Wednesday morning, where Ionta's fourth-graders took turns reading accounts written by British and German soldiers as the opponents briefly became friends.

These first-person accounts were also accompanied by a mixture of traditional Christmas carols and their German counterparts, such as "Stille Nacht," or "Silent Night."

The program ended with the more modern song, "Snoopy's Christmas," where the cartoon character Snoopy briefly befriends the Red Baron during Christmas, as well as "Christmastime is Here," featured on the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

Fourth-grade teacher Dr. Kristin Malenky, who teaches English, language arts and social studies, said the Christmas truce program was first held last year, and proved popular enough with students, parents and the community that the program made its return this year.

"We did briefly cover World War I in class with the students, and even though that's a little deep of a topic for fourth-graders, we focused on how the soldiers from both sides realized they were going through the same situation and decided the holidays would be a time of peace," Malenky said.

Members of the high school chamber singers under the tutelage of Brandy Rockage also participated in Wednesday's program.

Malenky credited music teacher Mary Rumelfanger with preparing the students for the program's different songs.

Malenky added that Rumelfanger had German-speaking relatives, which helped ensure the German Christmas carols were sung properly, while Malenky could reinforce the traditional English carols in her regular homeroom.

The students also read the story "Aguinaldo" in class, a Puerto Rican story about a surprise Christmas gift. Since the story emphasized a similar message of empathy, the students made more than 200 cards that were dropped off at local nursing homes.

Based on the positive response to Wednesday's program, Malenky said she hopes the Christmas truce program can continue to be an annual program for Ionta's fourth-graders.

"The teachers and I are very proud of them," Malenky said of the students. "They worked very hard and they've brought a lot of joy to parents and community members."

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Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at ddye@sharonherald.com.