December brings one of our favorite days of the year–Bangor Day.  Again this year Vine Street students and staff  enjoyed the opportunity to work and learn in this great city.   Everyone proudly sported their Bangor colors of cardinal red and white while participating in several activities.  One of the best Vine Street School traditions is the Bangor Day Tournament.  Begun in 2015 by PE teacher Jason Pangburn, this event has continued to the present  now under the direction of PE teacher Justin Marks.  This year, students in second and third grade signed up to compete in preliminary games throughout the week of December 18th.  On Friday, the final two teams played off in the school gymnasium.  The stage was filled with cheering fans.  Coach Joe Johnson came over from Bangor High School to officiate.  Students were thrilled when Sam the Ram made a surprise appearance!  Apparently, Sam loves athletic competitions.   When he found out that the championship was on at Vine, he came right over to cheer the future BHS Rams on to victory.  It is unclear if Sam had a preference for which team actually won.  He seemed to be promoting the good sportsmanship and determination for personal best that each player exhibited.  In other parts of the school the afternoon was a time for varied pursuits.  Kindergarten planned to culminate their study of gingerbread with a delectable snack of gingerbread people.  Despite the best laid of plans, the kindergarteners left the gingerpeople unsupervised and the delicious treats vanished.  Quite a scavenger hunt ensued as the kindergarten students searched the building for clues as to the whereabouts of their afternoon snack.  The children eventually found the cookies and promptly ate them!  In first grade, students learned more about the holidays in December that are celebrated around the world and they had STEM activities to complete.  In second and third grade students participated in 5 rounds of STEM activities including math fact bingo, gingerbread experiments, engineering challenges, Chromebook activities, and probably the favorite for most students (and definitely the messiest) was the making of gingerbread slime.    The students learned a lot and had a great time.  The Vine Street School was proud to participate in the annual food drive and raised $170 for charity.