GREENBRIER — Julie Wallace’s simple idea for her third-grade class at Eastside Elementary in Greenbrier turned into a schoolwide pep rally.
On a daily basis this semester, Julie Wallace’s class checked the Log Cabin Democrat’s e-edition for articles, so they could learn about nonfiction. Wallace believed the route she chose to take made it easier for her students to grasp the elements of nonfiction writing. Some of the framework of a story that Wallace’s class focused on included interviews, headlines and captions.
“Nonfiction can be hard to teach and difficult to understand sometimes, and the Panther team has something good going right now, so I had an idea,” Wallace said. “The kids can relate to our Panthers football team, so we were using a lot of those Greenbrier football articles. The students really have learned all of the aspects of nonfiction writing and understand the elements that we have been working on.”
Each child in the class created something for a scrapbook that was presented to Greenbrier’s high school football team last Thursday. Each student wrote a poem, gave the meaning of what school spirit meant to them or gave a cheer. The scrapbook was designed into a form of a giant football card, which was the suggestion of one of Wallace’s pupils, Jesse McClellan.
“As soon as I found out that they wanted to find a way to get the card to us, I wanted to allow our players to interact with the kids,” Greenbrier coach Randy Tribble said. “They were glad that we were able to do them a favor, but really it’s the opposite way around. They did us a favor. It was a real neat experience.”
Wallace’s class found out what the word rival meant last week when Greenbrier and Vilonia were set to face each other in the annual Faulkner County Judge’s Cup on Friday night. Wallace’s group made signs and cards to show the football team that they had their full support for last Friday night’s battle.
“We’re thankful for coach Randy Tribble and the football team for coming over to spend time with us on Thursday,” Wallace said. “The kids were really pumped up about them coming. It surprised them when the players walked into the room. They kind of look at those guys like heroes or Arkansas Razorbacks. They had fun.”
The entire school of Eastside Elementary has gotten involved now. Each class at the school is taking a player to make things for. Each player will have their support material on their lockers for this Friday night’s home playoff game against Little Rock Mills. A schoolwide pep rally for the football team is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday in the cafeteria.
“It’s good to have that type of positive influence in these guys’ lives,” Tribble said. “It’s good that the players are able to see that people look up to them, so it gives them a sense of responsibility and accountability. We had a fun time with those kids. One of our highlights last week was beating Vilonia, and the other one was interacting with that third-grade class.”
