WILLIAMSTOWN - Mother's Day teas are not particularly unusual this time of year, unless they're hosted by a group of 6-year-olds, like the 22 children in Patty Yazombek's kindergarten class at Williamstown Elementary School Friday.
"We've been talking about etiquette, so the children are hosting a tea with a special message to their mothers," Yazombek said. "They also make a framed picture and plant a potted flower for their moms."
Each picture frame included a picture of a flower with the child's handprint as the blossom and a heart in the center of the hand.
The frame also contained the following poem:
"A piece of me I give to you,
I painted this flower to say 'I love you.'
The heart is you, the hand is me -
To show we're friends, the best there can be.
I hope you will save it and look back someday
At the flower we shared on your special day."
Mothers joined children at their desks for a serving of cake and punch, followed by a chorus of young voices honoring their moms in song.
"This is a great thing," said Cindy Turley, accompanied by daughter, Kenzie.
"From the time her teacher announced the tea party, she's been marking the days off the calendar," Turley said.
Nearby, Anne Chambers agreed as she sipped punch with her daughter, Natalie.
"She's been very excited about this," Chambers said. "And I've been here once before with my son, Joshua, who's 9 now."
She'll likely return for the annual event again in a few years when her 3-year-old daughter, Meredith, begins kindergarten.
"I'm just here for the cake and punch," 6-year-old Rainer Holl told his mom, Michelle, who said she appreciates the opportunity to participate in such activities with her son's class as a parent volunteer.
"I help out with the class at least once a week," she said. "It's great to see what they're doing in school, and it allows us to meet the other children as well as their parents. And we all look out for each other's children."
Interim Williamstown Elementary Principal Rose Mary Stull said the Mother's Day Tea is a great time for moms and kids to dress up and be a little formal for a change.
"Some of these children have never seen fancy tables laid with placemats, napkins and flowers," she said. "This is a chance for them to experience that."
Stull added that all parents are encouraged to volunteer to spend time with their children in school.
"Kids love to see their parents in the school setting," she said. "And instead of parents asking what's going on at school, we tell them to come in and be a part of it."
Yazombek's class was one of three Williamstown Elementary kindergarten classes that hosted Mother's Day Teas on Friday.
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