Two little pigs went to school to get kissed. One big fundraiser led to cheers, claps and chanting.

Piggly and Wiggly, owned by Scott Mosier and raised by his daughter, were the stars of Thursday’s Kiss the Pig at Pleasant Valley Elementary.

“The PTO had a penny wars (plump the pig) which included kindergarten through third grade over a three-day period. The buckets were weighed, and the winners were determined by highest weight,” said PTO secretary Dawn Kieffer. “Students could sabotage other classes by putting dollars in the buckets. The dollars took away pounds. The teachers with the least pounds lost and have to kiss the pig.”

One teacher from first, second and third grades and four kindergarten teachers had to kiss the pig once. Principal Roger Pomposello had to kiss it once in the morning and again in the afternoon.

During the first assembly for morning kindergarten and first grade students, the crowd of students cheered, clapped and chanted, “kiss the pig.”

“I love pigs. I’m very excited to kiss a pig. Our class lost the penny wars, so I got to pay our debt,” said first grade teacher Susan Runco.

The crowd got even more excited and louder when it was Pomposello’s turn to pucker up.

“Mr. Pomposello was my favorite. It was cool,” said Kindergartner Daniel Hall.

Piggly and Wiggly, who were named by Kieffer’s kids, were not so enthusiastic. Kieffer held one to be kissed while the other stayed in the crate. Both squealed nervously the whole time.

For the afternoon event, Pomposello asked the PTO volunteers to modify it slightly and include a stuffed pig, which they borrowed from Runco’s classroom.

However, the 40-pound pigs were calmer, and both meandered inside the baby gate area Kieffer set up. Teachers and Pomposello could bend over the gate to kiss one or go inside it. Or they could opt to kiss the stuffed pig.

A few went right for the real pig, while a couple hesitated toward the stuffed option. But in the end, all kissed the real pig and the crowd of students cheered, chanted and applauded.

Again, Pomposello was the crowd favorite as he took his turn.

“The money raised goes back to you guys. I hope you all enjoyed this,” he told the students and faculty during the afternoon assembly.

Penny wars raised $4,451 for mini grants.

Every year, $5,000 dollars is budgeted to help grant teachers and staff things they need for the classroom that they may not get otherwise, Kieffer said.

“The mini grant requests totaled $16,000 this year,” said Kieffer. “Many of the teachers wanted science, technology, reading, engineering, art, math (STREAM) based things for their classroom.”

Examples include iPads, white board desks, musical instruments, math games and other learning items.

Almost everyone wore pink for dress down day to support this cause.

One Kindergarten boy named Levi had a pig hand-drawn on his shirt and was proud to show it off to classmates.

Third grader Lucas Franco’s mom made his shirt, which had pink lettering to say, “Kiss the Pig.”

He is a student in Jeannine Saylor’s class, which won a trophy with a pig on top.

Other winning classes were those of: Jessica Colon, morning kindergarten; Valerie Rudawski, afternoon kindergarten; Katie Jarrow, 1st grade; and Bethanne Yanchick, 2nd grade.

This was the first year for Kiss the Pig, but not the first time penny wars occurred as a fundraiser, Kieffer said.

There was much anticipation leading up to it.

“I do parent pick-up. When they announced who had to kiss the pig, they all ran out screaming excitedly,” she said.