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| The Crazies of Room 5 (CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE) |
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Halloween at Manor School is how I think Halloween should be... a true festival of creativity and jubilant energy shared by the entire school.
My first Halloween at Manor brought back fond memories of Halloweens from my own childhood—parading about the school grounds with hundreds of other students, proud as peacocks of our ingenious disguises. However, one thing my East Coast elementary schools never had was a drum circle to whip up the frenzied Halloween spirit. We also didn't have goblins on sticks bouncing around the drum circle. We never did the “Hooookey Spooookey” either... So, I guess my elementary school Halloween memories don't quite measure up to the fun we had here at Manor School last Friday.
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| Around the drum circle |
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| Dancing and prancing |
Thanks to our fabulous Room 5 Parent Brigade, we had one of the healthiest, most fun class parties too. Only in Fairfax have I seen kids celebrating Halloween with grapes, popcorn, pumpkin bread, and citrus infused water (made oh-so-cool with a chunk of dry ice thrown in the punch bowl for effect). The only candy in sight was the bag of candy corns that I had brought in and left sitting out in the open on my desk. “What are those candy corns for, Ms. Emily?” many of the children asked timidly. “Oh, you know, just for decoration,” I would reply wickedly. Of course, I gave each kiddo a small handful on their way out at the end of the day. Never have I seen kids so excited about a few candy corns! There was something so old fashioned and innocent about their delight in the bits of sugar.
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| 3rd Grade Room Mom Extraordinaire with our healthy Halloween feast |
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| "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" |
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| Cutest Lil' Devil ever |
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| The big boys drinking their fizzy drink... a mask is no obstacle. |
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| Scary little friends |
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| Happy Yoda |
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| The Fairy Princess |
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| Grrr |
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| Spooky! |
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| Fascinated by the dry ice effect |
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| Chowing down! |
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| What a character, that Pippi Longstocking! |
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| Pretty green kitty cat eyes |
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| Goofballs |
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| Seriously... what a great Harry Potter! |
One of the highlights of the day for me was telling a spooky tale about “my dear departed friend, John” who left his body parts behind to share with us. After I playfully described each body part, the kids had the opportunity to stick their hands in covered containers to feel the eyes, ears, brain, intestines, and more. It's amazing how the mind can convince itself that olives stuffed with blue cheese, a dried apricot, tofu, and pasta are the real things described by one's crazy teacher!
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| Feeling the guts |
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| Grossed out! |
Thanks to all of the parents who pitched in to make our Halloween festivities so memorable. I'm already planning my costume for next year!
