Schools hold party, pep rally

On Friday afternoon, tiny feet shuffled across the floor and hands waived in the air, all while a music video made about 15 years before many of the students were born played in the background.

"Actually, some of my staff were even too young to remember the Super Bowl Shuffle," said Dianne Bielinski, principal of the Pioneer Grove Education Center in Frankfort.

It didn't matter the students, ages three to seven, don't know about the significance of the Super Bowl or the 1985 Chicago Bears team's famed theme song. The students understood why they were partying.

"I like the Bears. Their goal is to win," said John Glennon, a four-year-old from Frankfort who is in the school's community preschool program.

Besides the community preschool, Pioneer Grove runs programs for students who have autism, and other physical and mental needs.

Dancing to the Super Bowl Shuffle was all part of the fun for the 70-some students.

"We have a lot of non-verbal children," Bielinski said. "They will participate in the rally in other ways. We have high expectations for them because when you have high expectations for children, they rise to meet them."

At one point, students in wheelchairs held cardboard letters spelling "Bears" while other students cheered. Teachers and the preschool students also led a customized fight song for the Bears.

Most students wore cardboard football helmets they made earlier in the week. The students were also adorned with orange and blue jerseys and T-shirts.

"I am going to wear it Saturday and Sunday, too," John Glennon said of the blue jersey with a Chicago Bears insignia he was sporting.

A few miles away at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Preschool in Mokena, students also donned blue and orange while munching on football-shaped sandwiches made with orange-colored cheese slices.

Earlier in the day, students made footballs and participated in a football toss. They also choreographed creative dances to the music of the Super Bowl Shuffle.

"We also talked a little bit about how God gave us our healthy bodies, and how football players need to exercise to play well," said Maetha Smith, the preschool's director.

The football-inspired curriculum coincided with football celebrations across the Chicago area at schools and workplaces in advance of Sunday's game.

"We have a lot of Bears fans here already," Smith said. "Hopefully they have some fun with their parents this weekend and understand why everybody is so excited about the Bears."

Shelby Stajszczack, 4, from Mokena, said she understood why everybody was so excited. Still, she didn't plan to watch the game.

She will, however, show the rainbow-colored football she painted to her family.

"I'm going to put it on the fridge so everybody can see it," she said.

Reporter Patrick Ferrell can be reached at (815) 729-6037 or pferrell@scn1.com