Halloween

 

alloween is an exciting day 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!

 

 

alloween falls on a Saturday this year, so IHMS celebrated the day before (Friday, October 30th) with a N.U.T. day (“No Uniform Today”). Everyone was encouraged to come to school dressed in costume, and the more colourful and creative the outfit, the better!

 

Grade 7 girls dressed up as the four seasons – very creative!

 

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. Almost no one did!

 

 

ince the Sadochok students only attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they came to school dressed in their costumes and paraded around  the classrooms the day before on Thursday October 29th.

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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 funnier and more creative than the store bought costumes, and it was obvious that a lot of effort went into their design and manufacture.

 

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.

 

 

he procession began with Sr. Anne 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.

 

 

he assembly was relatively brief this year – students didn’t participate in the usual “gym extravaganza” of Halloween type activities as in past years. Instead, Mr. Picklyk spoke for a few minutes (and told a few bad Halloween jokes) before showing a short video on Halloween safety. Mr. Picklyk then introduced Sr. Ruth, SSMI who spoke to the kids for a few minutes before giving everyone a prayer card. The students then headed back to class and participated in their own classroom Halloween activities.

 

nother Halloween tradition at IHMS is for the staff to come to school wearing identical costumes. This has been a tradition for the past 22 years, and this year the teachers all dressed up as Waldo, the character from the “Where’s Waldo” puzzle books. The theme was kept a secret until the teachers wore their costumes to school that day.

 

The staff of IHMS dressed up as the character Waldo. Click the last photo to enlarge

 

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

 

 

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 the next 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.