Elementary Halloween Party

We had a great time celebrating Halloween today! Thank you, to all the parents who provided food. It was quite a feast!



The literature themed costumes:

Harry Potter


Sherlock Holmes


Presto the Magician


Huckleberry Finn


The Clown


Dancing:


The dancing candy corn race:

Pam and Linda demonstrate for the kids




The winner of the "guess the number of candy corns in the jar" contest

Decorating Pumpkins

Today, in preparation for our Halloween party on Monday, we decorated pumpkins.

The children were able to express their creativity with a wide variety of art materials: paint, markers, googly eyes, stickers, sequins, stickers, yarn...











Each pumpkin is a unique work of art.







Speaking of art,
I also wanted to share pictures of the awesome pinatas that the high school art class has been making. Most of them are not quite finished yet, but you can still see what a great job the kids are doing.

"This is Halloween"

Middle and high school chorus rehearsal:

Halloween Reminders

Our Halloween party will be Monday, Oct. 31 and children have been asked to wear costumes in keeping with our theme.

"This year the theme will be children's literature. Your child can dress like one of the characters or an animal from a child's book. I would like to avoid anything "on the dark side. It would be great if you would encourage your child to be creative and make their costume from items found around the house."

- Terry

There is a sign-up sheet on the classroom door, so parents can sign up for a food item to contribute to the party.


(These were some of the treats that parents brought last year)

This Friday, each child has been asked to bring a small pumpkin that they can paint.

Finishing Up Our Unit on Native Americans

Last week, all the Thematics groups finished up their Native American units, so that this week we can introduce the arrival of Europeans in the New World.

The group that had been learning about the Sioux, made feather headdresses:







The Iroquois group continued working on their longhouses:







The Hopi group tried burning the mineral coal, but had no success.



Here they are with their finished dioramas of a Hopi home:

Trick or Treat for UNICEF

This morning, some University of Florida students came to talk to our students about "Trick or Treat for UNICEF", a program to collect monetary donations to help needy children.





Our children were so moved by what the girls had to say about children who needed their help, that two of them donated the little bit of change they had in their pockets right away.





Every child accepted a donation box to carry with them on Halloween and some children even asked for boxes to give to bothers and sisters at home.










Reminder: This is the end of the first nine weeks of school, so Monday, 10/24/11, there is no school.

Brains!

Last Friday in science the elementary students continued their study of the human body by learning about brains and their five senses.





Here they are doing an experiment about taste, using jelly beans.



For their sense of touch, each child was able to feel a variety of things, which included a ball python.

Birthdays and Bubbles

Sometimes our regular day is interrupted by a special event. This month we have had two birthdays.















Today, all of the children were given little bottles of bubbles to play with during recess (Thank you, Linda!)