Ava (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

LAKE PLACID — Students in Patricia Damp’s Lake Placid Elementary School third-grade class recently took part in a Christmas project that highlighted some of Santa’s closest co-workers. They were asked to write a brief essay answering the following question:

“Which do you think is more important, elves or reindeer?”

It was an exercise in opinion writing, one that Mrs. Damp has asked her students to take part in for several years. Their task was to convince readers of their opinion, which was to be backed up by supporting details.

It’s the Oreo cookie method of debate, according to Mrs. Damp. The first layer of the cookie was to state an opinion: “I feel …” The inside layer — single or double-stuffed, depending on length — was to state supporting details, the reasons why students feel the way they do. And the last layer is to repeat their opinion.

While eating Oreo cookies, eight of Mrs. Damp’s 12 students in class that day wrote their opinions, which have been printed and decorated and are on display in the hallway outside the classroom.

Ember (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

“It’s a Christmas writing project,” Mrs. Damp said. “You try to keep it fun and interesting.”

Out of the eight essays, six students said elves were more important and two took the side of the reindeer. Asked why she thinks the elves fared better than the reindeer, Mrs. Damp said it’s probably because the elves have more duties than the reindeer. Elves make toys, help Santa with his naughty-or-nice list and take care of the reindeer, and the reindeer simply fly Santa around the world on Christmas eve.

Asked which she thinks is more important — the elves or the reindeer — Mrs. Damp declined to comment. She said it was important to stay publicly objective as the teacher.

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Ava

Emma (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

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I think elves are more important than the reindeer. First of all, they help Santa keep an eye on you. They help Santa by hiding but they are still keeping an eye on you and then they report back to Santa. Then the elves fly back to your house so they can make sure you are not being bad or mean.

Next, they also make the toys for the kids. If you are on the nice list you get toys but if you are on the naughty list you get coal so if you want toys then be nice. Additionally they also wrap all the presents so it doesn’t give the gift away and it is a surprise.

For all those reasons I think elves are more important than reindeer.

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Isabella (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

Ember

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I believe elves are better than reindeer. Clearly elves make presents so we can have toys. If the elves do not make presents, who will? Clearly the elves are better than reindeer.

My second reason is elves feed all the reindeer so they can fly. If elves do not feed the reindeer the reindeer will be starving! If the elves do not feed the reindeer who will? I think elves are better than reindeer.

My third reason is that elves load all the presents. If the elves do not load the presents, who will? If there are no presents there is no Christmas. I still think elves are better than reindeer.

Liam (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

My fourth reason is elves help with all the work. If we did not have elves, who would help Santa?

Finally, the elves train the reindeer so they can fly. If we did not have elves, who would train the reindeer? If the elves did not train the reindeer the reindeer can’t deliver the presents.

For all these reasons that is why I think elves are better than reindeer.

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Emma

Lillian (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

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I strongly believe elves are more important than the reindeer. Clearly the elves are more important. I mean they make all the toys. Clearly the elves need to make the toys because Santa is too busy with the naughty or nice list. There will be no time for Santa to do it. I feel like being an elf is so cool because you get to make presents for all the children.

Next the elves feed the reindeer and give them water so they can fly Santa’s sled. The elves also fill up Santa’s sled. If they didn’t fill up Santa’s sled the children would not have presents.

Finally, the elves help Santa by watching all the children to see if they are good or bad. Then they report back to Santa.

For all these reasons that is why I think elves are better than the reindeer.

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Isabella

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I think the reindeer are more important than the elves. My first reason is they have to fly and guide Santa’s sleigh every Christmas Eve. Without the reindeer, Santa would have nobody to guide the sleigh and he would have to walk all around the world — but no human being can do that!!

The reindeer have to fly all around the world so the good boys and girls get presents. Clearly the elves are too tiny to pull the sleigh — it would squash them.

The reindeer have to be strong because they pull the sleigh for 24 hours. Nobody else can pull the sleigh because it is too heavy. The elves are too weak to pull the sleigh for 24 hours.

Clearly, without the reindeer Santa could not give presents to all the good boys and girls. That is why I think reindeer are more important than elves and I hope you will too!

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Liam

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I’m convinced the elves are more important than the reindeer. First of all they need to load all of the presents in the sleigh. If they did not, Santa would have no gifts & presents to deliver. If not there would be no Christmas like in the movie “Grinch.”

In addition they have to get the reindeer ready to fly for the journey. They have to give them food and water. If they did not they would have no energy to fly with all of the heavy presents in the sleigh.

Who would wrap all of the presents if they did not? That would give away your gift — nobody would like that!

I mean they both have equally important jobs. But for all these reasons, I still think the elves are more important than the reindeer!!! Which do you think? You should pick elves over the reindeer!!!

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Lillian

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From my point of view the reindeer are much more important than the elves. Who would deliver the presents if the reindeer were not there on Christmas Eve? The elves could definitely not pull the sleigh, they are way, way too small. Elves are one and a half feet tall. How would Santa get across the world if there were no reindeer, not a single one??

Furthermore, the reindeer have to get ready for a really, really long flight all the way around the world. If there were no reindeer there would be no Christmas. The reindeer are really busy, maybe even more than the elves, because the reindeer have to be strong enough and healthy enough to be able to fly from dusk till dawn all night on Christmas Eve. That’s a long time.

Santa has all year to make the presents with no help at all. Santa does not need elves to make the presents because he can make them himself.

Clearly from all these reasons it shows that I think the reindeer are more important than the elves — and I think you should think so too!!!!

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Owen

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I feel the elves are more important than the reindeer. First of all the elves get the reindeer ready. The elves get their food so the reindeer can fly. The elves give the reindeer water so they can fly. The elves get the reindeer hooked up to the sleigh so the sleigh can fly.

Next, the elves make all the presents while the reindeer play. If the elves didn’t make the presents because Santa is too busy with the naughty and nice list, we would not have any presents. The elves have to load the sleigh so Santa can deliver the toys to the world. The elves make presents to make kids happy.

That is why elves are more important than reindeer.

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Reid

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In my opinion the elves are more important than the reindeer. First of all the elves make the toys so the kids can have Christmas. The elves have all year to make the toys and if the elves were not here then who would make the toys for the kids to have Christmas? Would anyone want to ruin Christmas for all the kids out there? No!

Equally important, the elves can fly. If they are good at flying they might be a scout elf! Santa has to get ready and Santa can’t watch all the kids at once. That is why there are scout elves so then Santa can make the naughty and nice list so then he knows if to give the bad kids coal for Christmas.

Another reason is the elves help load the presents. The reindeer can’t load presents so who else would? The elves also have to hook up the reindeer so the sleigh can fly. If they didn’t hook the reindeer up Santa would not be able to go anywhere. If Santa can’t go anywhere all the kids will be sad because there are no presents under the tree.

The elves also have to feed the reindeer so they can fly too. The elves also have to give the reindeer water so the reindeer can fly!!!!!!! That is why the elves are better than the reindeer!!!!!!!!!

Reid (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

Owen (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)