St. Marys School
October Newsletter
There comes a time in everyone’s life when one pauses and asks that all
important question, “Really? What was I thinking!” My moment came the
day before my second art class of October. Years ago we had a first
grade teacher on staff who every October made jack-o-lanterns from
grocery sacks with her class. In fact while looking for something in my
attic recently I stumbled over the jack-o-lantern that my 31 year old
had made when he was in her class. The project involves crumbling and
stuffing a year’s worth of old newspaper into brown paper grocery sacks
and then painting said sacks with a gallon or so of orange tempera
paint (details to be added later). Many years later when I was hired as
the first grade teacher I decided to revive the tradition. When the
first and second grades were combined, I decided to do the pumpkins
with the first graders and do spiders with the second graders. It’s
basically the same project, just smaller bags, a half year’s worth of
newspaper and a half gallon of black paint, fuzzy legs and shaky eyes.
I always do this project for the first art class of October, and every
year when I am knee-deep in newspaper, I swear never again! After
school I spent a good ninety minutes cleaning large, medium and small
foam brushes and about a dozen detail brushes, vowing there would be no
painting in my room until at least Easter.
But… when I was planning for the next week, I thought, “Gee, we haven’t
done “foot ghosts” for a while. What’s a foot ghost? It is a ghost made
by painting the bottom of a child’s foot and having him step on a piece
of black paper. So on the afternoon before art, as I was setting out
paint and brushes, I thought “Really? What was I thinking?” I had a bit
more help for this project thanks to a brave grandma, dad and several
moms. God love them, they even cleaned out the brushes for me! As yet I
still haven’t decided our next project for art class, but I will tell
you this. The medium for the next class will be crayons, definitely
crayons.
October is the month of the Holy Rosary. In the morning the eighth
graders begin the Rosary with the school. This year, they are doing
something different. Instead of beginning the first mystery, they read
a sentence or two describing each mystery in the set that we will pray
that day.
I had to laugh when I checked the school calendar for events to write
about. If only this letter was a week later! The next two weeks are jam
packed with special events. On Wednesday, October 21, the preschool
through second grades will go on the annual Brumbaugh Fruit Farm field
trip. This is one of the highly anticipated events of first and second
grade. The children will learn about how apples are grown and
harvested, and the important role that honey bees play in the
development of apples. The children then will be treated to a hayride
during which they will stop by the pumpkin patch and choose a pumpkin
to take home. Afterwards, they will enjoy playing in the playground and
going through the spooky, but not too spooky, haunted house. On the
following day, the first graders will go the FFA Farm and Safety
Awareness Day. This is an annual event sponsored by the Greenville High
School Future Farmers of America. The high school students teach the
children about safety and how we get our food. Usually we meet some of
our St. Mary’s alumni. I am by the way officially old. Not only have I
taught the St. Mary’ alumni, but I was one of the band moms when the
club’s faculty advisor was in band!
On October 26 the fourth through sixth graders will see a musical
sponsored by the DCCA, Arts in Education. The musical is about John
Henry, a mythical figure from American folklore. John Henry was the
best track layer for the railroad, and is best known for his famous
contest against the steam driven track layer. Although he won the
contest, he died of a broken heart, knowing that ordinary men could not
compete against the modern machines.
Two very scary things happen October 30. First it is the day of the
eighth grade’s haunted classroom and the Halloween parties. Second, and
by far the scarier, it is the end of the first nine weeks. Hard to
believe, the first quarter will be over.
So watch out for the ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the
night! Happy Halloween!
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