It was a day Grade 1 and 2 students at St. Mary School had been looking forward to for weeks. Heart-shaped balloons bobbed on either side of the lectern, cloud-like puffs made of paper hung from the ceiling and rose petals spotted a floor runner.
The special occasion was the wedding of Grade 2 class mascots Sheamus and Sheila, two stuffed sheep from Ireland.
Jennifer Gentes, a Grade 2 teacher at St. Mary, first got the idea to add a stuffed friend to that class at a teacher's workshop last year.
"I had seen another teacher do it with a stuffed dog and we had a lot of stuffed sheep at home because we are sheep farmers," said Gentes. "In the fall I brought in [Sheamus] so the kids could write letters to him. I'd take the letters – they didn't know that though – and write back. It was just a way of practising writing and letter writing."
The idea turned out to be a constructive one, with the students writing to Sheamus about their lives and interests and asking to know about his life back in Ireland, too.
"I said he was from Ireland and then we tried to figure out where Ireland is. He took on a lot of things, so sometimes we'd get a new book in the class and I would write "has anyone seen this new book?" and the kids would go and look for it," said Gentes.
The fuzzy class addition was also a way to interest the kids in their work.
"They're definitely more motivated to write, because now they're writing stories to him.
"Half the battle is getting them to want to write," she added.
After a conversation with another teacher at the school, Gentes decided to add another sheep to the class, this time a female, Sheila. As a teacher in a Catholic school that teaches the sacraments, the wedding became a teaching tool for her, Gentes said. And what better day to say "I do" than Valentine's Day.
After the ceremony the two classes hosted a reception with a disco ball overhead as the two sheep shared their first dance. Also attending the ceremony were two young lambs, brought by Gentes' husband as a surprise. Petting the lambs was a first for many of the kids, and even some of the teachers.
"[Some of the teachers] wouldn't put them down," Gentes joked.
As for Sheamus and Sheila's future of wedded bliss, Gentes says they've already been talking about lambs.
Added Gentes, "Cindy [the Grade 1 teacher] wants me to because she'll be teaching baptism this year."
