Halloween 2019

alloween is an exciting time for kids because it means “trick or treating” and lots of free candy. What makes it even more exciting for kids (and a lot of adults) is that it also means dressing up in costume for the occasion. In fact, some IHMS teachers are just as excited as the students to wear a costume to school on Halloween. And why not? Most people like the idea of changing their persona once a year with a creative Halloween costume.

Students wearing their costumes outside at the beginning of the school day

alloween fell on a Thursday this year, so IHMS celebrated Thursday, October 31, 2019 with a N.U.T. day (“No Uniform Today”). Everyone was encouraged to attend school dressed in costume, and the more colourful and creative the outfit, the better!​

Students wearing some very colourful costumes.

tudents were free to wear almost anything they wanted as long as it didn’t portray anything scary, evil, or inappropriate. Anyone who either had a scary costume or who preferred not to wear a costume at all were asked to at least dress in orange and black. None of the students did this because everyone already had a costume ready for trick or treating that evening.

Must tuck in uniform!

Must do homework!

Kindergarten students preparing to show off their costumes to the rest of the school

ome of the costumes were purchased from stores, but a lot were apparently home-made. IHMS has some very creative parents because the home-made costumes were by far funnier and more creative than the store bought costumes, and it was obvious that a lot of effort went into their design and manufacture.

My mom made this

Junior-high students dressed for Halloween

ince everyone was eager to show off their outfits, it’s been a yearly tradition at IHMS for students to parade their Halloween costumes in front of everyone else in the school. This is done in the form of a procession through each of the classes from Kindergarten all the way up to grade 8. In this way, everyone in the school can show off what they have, and at the same time they can see what everyone else is wearing.

Look at me!

Students parading through the classrooms in their Halloween costumes

he procession began with Mrs. Paulic and her Kindergarten students parading through the grade 1 classroom. As both grades checked each other out, the grade 1’s followed the Kindergarten students into the grade 2 classroom. The grade 2’s then followed the line into the grade 3 classroom, and so on. This continued all the way to the grade 8 classroom, and finally back down into the gym where everyone gathered for a short assembly.

The students. led by Mrs. Paulic and her Kindergarten class,  processed through the downstairs hallway, up the front stairs, through the upstairs hallway, and then back down to the gym

he assembly was relatively brief this year – students didn’t participate in the usual “gym extravaganza” of Halloween activities as in past years. Instead, Mr. Picklyk spoke for a few minutes about the different types of costumes. Khushleen D, the student council president, told a few Halloween themed jokes which the younger students thought were hilarious.

Students were eager to show off their Halloween costumes​

During the assembly. Mr, Picklyk (top photo) and student council president Khushleen D. (second photo) told a few Halloween themed jokes. Students raised their hand if they thought they knew the punchline.

he students were then dismissed back to their classrooms. Before leaving, they were told that the grade 8’s would be visiting each classroom with a variety of Halloween activities for them to play. As the students left the gym, they were given a small bag of potato chips to have later in the day during their recess break..

Students were given a small bag of potato chips as they left the Halloween assembly

nother Halloween tradition at IHMS is for the staff to dress up in identical costumes. This has been a tradition for the past 26 years, and was never planned to continue beyond the first year. But the idea has persisted for the past 26 years.

Click here to view in larger format. “Super Teachers” of 1994 The staff of IHMS have been wearing identical Halloween costumes since 1994 – a total of 26 years. The first of these Halloween themed outfits was a “Super Teacher” costume worn by the staff in 1994. The photo shown on the left was printed in the “Winnipeg Sun” newspaper. Those were simpler times!

or this year (the 26th consecutive year), the staff dressed up as “Grammar Police”. This information, which rivalled the Manhatten Project in its secrecy, was not revealed to the students until staff members wore their costumes to school on October 31st.

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Definition of “Grammar police”: Noun, (usually plural, but sometimes construed as singular) (idiomatic): One or more people who make negative comments, which are usually unsolicited and unwanted, concerning the correctness of someone’s English usage.

Some of the teachers wearing their “Grammar Police” outfits

ost staff members wore a black t-shirt with the words “Grammar Police” attached to their shirt. The students seemed to enjoy the idea of their teachers dressing identically, but they were much more concerned with showing off their own costume!

IHMS  “Grammar Police” ready to spring into action

This is what happens when the “Grammar Police” are not on the job!

the dedicated and hard work teachers of the IHMS, are reel life “grammer police”, its’ there job to teach there student’s correct usability of the english language so they can right good and not bad and they dont get negative or not unwanted commence, etc. etc. the end,

The IHMS “Grammar Police” posing as a group in the gym, Click here to enlarge

n order to encourage healthier eating habits, Halloween has been declared a “candy free” day at IHMS (there will be plenty of candy later that evening). Families who wanted to share a fun treat on Halloween were asked to only bring an inexpensive toy … NO CANDY! Capish?

Students excited to dress up in their Halloween costumes

Some of the younger students sitting on the gym floor during the Halloween assembly

 

he students had a lot of fun coming to school dressed up for Halloween. It gave them the opportunity to wear their costume twice – once during the day and again later that evening. There are a few other N.U.T. days spread throughout the school year, but most students agree that Halloween is the N.U.T. day they enjoy the most.

 

If you’re squeamish about spiders, don’t go any further!