Elk Grove students celebrate Cubs without skipping school

Though responsibly in class Friday and not at the Cubs' rally in Grant Park, students and staff members at Admiral Byrd Elementary School in Elk Grove Village staged their own afternoon celebration of this week's World Series victory.

Singing along with a recording of Steve Goodman's "Go Cubs Go" - and occasionally "The Star-Spangled Banner" - all 383 children and their teachers marched from the school to the village's Charles J. Zettek Municipal Complex several blocks away.

Principal Mary Ellen Esser led the way, carrying the school's penguin mascot - dressed up in a Cubs uniform.

Once there, every grade level posed for its own individual photo in front of Elk Grove's elk statue, already draped with a "W" flag.

Fifth graders - in deference to the fact they'd waited longer for a Cubs championship than any other students at the school - were allowed to go first.

Kindergartners brought up the rear, but were able to celebrate having had the shortest wait of any Cubs fans in more than a century.

Back at school, the students and teachers then posed for one schoolwide photo as they assembled themselves into a giant "W" flag on the playground behind the building.