New Approaches to Old Favourites

Happy Halloween to all of those who partake!

This is a short blog post this week, created and posted on the same day.

In Grade 2 Social Studies, one of the expectations is "compare ways in which some traditions have been celebrated over multiple generations in their family and identify some of the main reasons for changes in these traditions". Lately, this expectation has gotten easier to teach, as COVID has forced many changes.

In our school, we used to gather in the gym for a loud and admittedly chaotic circle-share assembly. We haven't had an assembly yet this year so the students are unfamiliar with the routines. Sometimes it's hard to find the "right time" to try something different, but this was an ideal time. How might we mark this moment with the school community in a positive way? We discussed it at a staff meeting, surveyed everyone using a Google Form, and decided to try a different format this year - two school parades from room to room (with space for exemptions) - one for the kindergarteners and one for the rest of the school. We'll discuss what people thought about the new version.

I also took a new approach to carving our home jack-o-lanterns. This year, not only did I try out carving just parts of the pumpkin, I even painted the pumpkin! My Michaelangelo TMNT creation was inspired by something I saw online. We even bought special carving tools to do the job. I was really pleased with the results.

I know that Doug Peterson will be keeping an eye on this blog around this time of year because he knows how much I love costumes and dressing up. Doug, you wouldn't be disappointed. In the morning I was bacon (and my friend was an egg). In the afternoon, I was Tom Nook from the video game Animal Crossing. In the evening at the gym, I was a French maid. My daughter was Spamton from Delta Rune. (I changed back into my bacon costume to take pictures with my cosplaying-specialist eldest.)

There were more trick-or-treaters this year than last but the numbers are still lower than they were in the past. Enjoy your evenings, everyone (except for the people behind the terrible decision to rely on heavy-handed legislative moves instead of good faith negotiations with our CUPE education worker colleagues. Boo to you!)