Leetonia fifth-grade teacher Casey Harris is sharing her childhood tradition of crafting Christmas trees from paper bags with students. Shown is kindergartener Amara Harris (Harris’ daughter) with her family Christmas trees. (Submitted photo)

LEETONIA – Leetonia Exempted Village School District fifth-grade teacher Casey Harris shared her childhood tradition of crafting Christmas trees from paper bags with kindergarten through fifth-grade students. She wanted to bring her tradition to Leetonia elementary students. She wasn’t sure if she could get the trees to be showcased at local grocery stores, but she knew the trees could be hung up around the school and spread holiday cheer.

“I used to do this project when I was a student in elementary school. It was a favorite of mine to be able to decorate my tree with my family. Our trees were then hung in local grocery stores, and my parents would always take me to find it. It was a nice tradition that clearly meant a lot to me,” shared Harris. Last year, she took on the entire project herself, including gathering all the cardboard for 300 Christmas trees and cutting them all, along with the help of her dad and her husband.

This year, she knew she couldn’t take on that task herself, so she decided to partner with the school’s Innovative Career Exploration (I.C.E.) students and Family Consumer Science students to help trace and cut out the trees. The collaboration helped older students produce something with the younger ones. After school students helped organize and deliver the pre-cut trees to each classroom.