News Photo by Julie Goldberg Pied Piper School students perform “Toy Testing Elves” Wednesday during the school’s annual holiday program.

ALPENA — Pied Piper School students had their moment to shine Wednesday during the school’s annual holiday program.

Performing in front of parents and families, the students performed songs around the theme “Santa’s Workshop.” Some songs performed were “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Santa Shark,” and “Christmas Time is Near.”

Principal Stacy Wentz said parents and families look forward to the program every year.

“This is a really big deal in our community, because our students aren’t able to have the opportunity to perform like many of our other students in the community, so this is their time to be on stage and to shine,” Wentz said. “It’s an opportunity for parents to see them perform.”

Preparation for the program started weeks ago as teachers had to have their plans for the program ready by Thanksgiving break so practices could begin when students came back to school.

“Once we return from break, it is daily practice with the kids,” Wentz said.

Two weeks before the program, students started practicing on the stage so they could become familiar with performing.

Students and staff practiced the program multiple times this week so students could get used to the flow of the program and solve problems as needed.

Some classes put together more interactive skits, while a short Nativity scene was performed. School staff employees helped students throughout the performance with hand movements and dance moves.

“They’re not necessarily standing up there singing, (but) they’re doing something,” Wentz said.

Teamwork helped the program run smoothly as students and staff helped set up the stage for each performance.

Doris Puls played the piano during the performance.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.