OXFORD – Some holiday shoppers got a special treat when they asked for paper instead of plastic on Wednesday.

For the fourth year in a row, Oxford Hills Middle School students decorated paper bags for the holidays and made them available to the public at Hannaford.

“Our community, Oxford Hills, is so supportive of our students throughout the year,” said Maureen Howard, director of the Oxford Hills Community Education Exchange. “(Donna Marcotte-Bell) and I felt this was a wonderful way for our students to say thank you.”

Marcotte-Bell is a language arts teacher at Oxford Hills Middle School, Howard said. In 2001, she approached Howard with the holiday shopping bag idea, and seventh- and eighth-grade students decorated and distributed 125 bags that year.

“On the one side they do a decoration, and on the other side they write poems,” Howard said. “They’re beautiful.”

This year, students produced 550 bags. As of 2 p.m., the colorful artworks were still available at the end of several Hannaford checkout aisles.