It was a lovely day yesterday. The children were excited about the toys which appeared on our doorstep at about 10:00 and were ready to play with at about 11:30. The kids were in heaven looking at this trying out that. The toys were delightfully varied, so there were some kinesthetic toys as well as cerebral toys. That's a high falutin way of saying there were body toys and think toys.
My personal favorites were the kinexts. I like things you can put together.
I think the news guys liked the truck that went up the wall. I promised them they could borrow it.
E and I were movie stars yesterday. We were interviewed in front of the cameras. It was fun.
My favorite part was the parent involvement. I love having parents at the school because the kids do. Their faces light up when their parent is there. That's why we encourage all parent visits. One precious moment was Faith's reaction to the toys. She came to me nearly in tears in the flood of toys and activities and kids delight. "Where is my Aunt Hazel?" She cried.
"She's in the kitchen slicing bread, Faith." Faith was more interested in her aunt ( who is aces) than playing. Good family; good beginnings; great kid.
Joe played with the Karate punching bag. He had to fill one part with air and the other with water. It was a real treasure. The kids loved it, however, and it was one of the last toys put away.
We had games, electronic toys, math toys, building toys, and a basketball thing the boys couldn't get enough of. This week we will suspend classes in the afternoon to give some real attention to each toy. We are grateful for the voting job the parents and families gave us so that we could win this contest. Now we will do our best to make the media and toy companies glad they have such a great project.
The Cat Investigation will commence on Tuesday.
Halloween is fast approaching. We will have two Halloween days and we will keep you posted.
While you are buying costumes, please keep in mind the weather. It could be hot, so heavy costumes are a real problem. Please remember that masks are a hazard, so if the costume is mostly mask, it's best to choose another. Homemade costumes are great!!! We accept any kind, witch, scary, dead - in the proper tradition of Halloween which goes back over a thousand years to the Middle Ages.
The Eve of All Hallows was the night before the second greatest holy day in the Church - All Saint's Day which is second only to Easter because it celebrates the honorable death and new life of all good people. The night before a day intended to be spent entirely in church, the adult population went on a sacreligious fun spree through the country side in costumes, and because the holy day recognized the life after death, the bolder people went to the grave yards and tried to pull spirits out of their graves. It was done as a scary escapade. This was 1000 years ago - and I suppose it has been done more recently, but that's where it comes from. When I was writing an historical novel called Anne, I came across a lot of English Halloween history. As far as I know and have read, the 1000 year old free-for-all has no devil worship or devil interest involved.
So in keeping with the fun, we will let the kids dress up funny, scary, spooky, beautiful, fanciful or whatever.
Please watch the weather reports for afternoon - We have a 1:00 - 1:30 recess and the kids are boiling in winter clothes when the temp is post 70. Shorts are still advisable or at least a short sleeve shirt.
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