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St. Marys School
A
month of field trips and Halloween infestations
By Kathy Ayette
My classroom has spiders crawling along the top of the lockers and bats
flying around the ceiling. Most people in that situation would
call an exterminator. However at this time of the year, it is par
for the course in my room. I must add I have an infestation of
jack-o-lanterns and ghosts, too.
For my students, October is a month of field trips. On October 5,
the first graders and I went to the fairgrounds for the annual FFA Farm
and Safety Awareness Days. As usual, the young men and women of
the FFA did a great job with the children. This year due to the
rain, the event was held inside the new Dairy Barn. I may have
been the only one overjoyed about the weather. This year I am
using a cane due to a bad hip. I was a little concerned as to
whether I would be able to walk all around the fairgrounds, with only
bales of straw for seating. Since the event was indoors, table
and chairs had been set up for lunch. That’s real chairs, the
kind I can sit on and get up from! At the end of the day I asked
the children what their favorite station was and one little girl said
it was where she got to pet the horse because she had never met a “real
live horse in person before.”
The preschool through second graders went to Brumbaugh’s Farm on the
following Monday. The children had a great time even though the
weather was a little damp. We never had any actual rain, but at
times it seemed a little misty. This year due to all the rain, the
children did not go into the field to pick their pumpkins. They
chose from “pre-picked” pumpkins in a large box. Brumbaugh’s is
by far the winner in the favorite field trip contest! Later this
month, the kindergarten through fourth grades will visit some local
retirement homes and sing Halloween songs for the residents.
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. Eighth grade students
have been taking turns leading the beginning of the Rosary for the
school. Each class then finishes the Rosary throughout the
day. Because I have younger students, we just say a decade.
By the way, if you are looking for a test to gauge your patience, try
teaching first and second graders how to “work a rosary”.
On October 25 prevention educators from the Council on Child Abuse will
be coming to our school to present a workshop on personal safety, with
an emphasis on bullying. There will be an hour long presentation
in each classroom with an opportunity for the children to meet
individually with a prevention educator to discuss any concerns.
Several years ago, the same group presented a workshop on sexual abuse
for the children and did an excellent job presenting age appropriate
material.
We will be celebrating Halloween a little early this year. The
Halloween parties and the eighth graders’ haunted classroom will be on
Friday, October 27. The preschoolers through seventh graders will
dress up and we will have several Halloween parades. The
preschoolers, of which there are four classes, will visit the
classrooms in costumes during their class times. The rest of the
students will participate in the parade before the parties with the
kindergarteners leading. The kindergarteners will start off by
parading through the first and second grade classroom. My
students will join them as we make our way to the third and fourth
grade classroom. We continue on until we have everyone, then,
weather permitting we go outside. During the morning the classes
will have the opportunity to, if they dare, go through the eighth
graders’ haunted classroom. So far, the eighth graders have been
very secretive. I haven’t heard anything about their plans.
I would like to end on a little different note. Often one hears a
lot of negative stories about the youth of today. There are stories of
gang violence and drugs, just to name two. I would like to tell
you a different type of story, one about kindness and
consideration. As I mentioned, I am hobbling around with a bad
hip. One morning as I was trudging up the stairs one of the
junior high students asked if she could carry something for me. I
have had children purposely wait to see if I need a door open. My
students have been wonderful carrying things for me. Remember the
chair that I was so overjoyed to have at the FFA field trip?
Well, I wasn’t the one to carry that chair from station to
station. So if you are a little overwhelmed by all those other
stories, just remember there are way more kids like the ones here at
St. Mary’s.
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