Mother Nature shone down on Warwick Neck Elementary School’s recent Mother’s Day Tea, as first-graders sang their mothers’, and some fathers’, praises under a bright, sunny, cloudless sky.

For the past month, the first-graders from Tracy Mollock and Amy Dolan’s classrooms have been working on Animotos, a digital moviemaker program, to make short films about their relationship with their mother in honor of Mother’s Day.

Using sentence prompts like, “I love my mother because,” “she looks pretty when,” “she impresses me when” and various others, the students created short letters and combined them with pictures of their parents to show off during the tea event.

Dolan explained that students started with a “sloppy copy,” editing their letters over the past month, and then chose their own photos, background and music for the tribute videos.

She warned the parents to keep some tissues close because they were all “tearjerkers.”

“Your kids have worked so hard to make these perfect for you,” Mollock said. “They never quit, even if they got stuck for a minute. They wanted to impress you and show you how much they appreciate your work.”

All the students were dressed to the nines, and mothers and fathers gathered outside the school to see their children.

All of the first-graders performed two short songs – one about “mom” being their favorite gal, and the other about how much they love their mothers – choreographed by music teacher Kristy Procaccianti.

When the party moved inside, all the students served their mothers cookies, cupcakes and lemonade, while the mothers watched all the short videos.

Principal Patricia Cousineau visited each classroom for tea and said “teachers are like part-time moms at school,” and had the students give a big thank you to them.

“There isn’t a dry eye in the house. We should have brought more Kleenex,” she said.

The videos are only one part of the students’ “21st Century Learning” curriculum. The first-graders work on basic computer coding skills and incorporate a lot of technology into their daily schoolwork to be prepared and savvy for the technology-driven world.

Denise Bilodeau, the technology applications assessment coordinator for Warwick Public Schools, visited the tea party to see all the work the first grade is doing with technology. She said it is “amazing” to see teachers incorporating technology in such a fun way for students.

“We want our students to be prepared and technology plays a large role today,” Dolan said. “They need to know how to use it to get a step up.”

All afternoon, the mothers shed heartfelt, happy tears upon seeing all the great things their children had to say.

Chantelle Dos Remedos and Dusty Dubois both said it was the best and most heartwarming gift they could receive for Mother’s Day.

“You can’t replace memories and love with store-bought items. Presley did amazing,” Dos Remedos said.

Dubois said she loved her daughter Elizabeth’s Animoto creation, and said it is great to see teachers that appreciate everything mothers do.

“My daughter just transferred to this school, and in the few short months Elizabeth has been here these teachers have done so much for her and cared so much,” she said.