  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! Everyone loves to dress up in some type of funny or creative costume for Halloween. |
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| Grade 8 student Serhiy S., dressed as a Jamaican with dreadlocks, gives the Star Trek “Live long and prosper” Vulcan salute. |
alloween fell on a Monday this year, so IHMS celebrated Monday, October 31, 2016 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!
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| Two grade 5 students, Jaclyn S. and Nazar H., dressed very convincingly as Cleopatra and Harry Potter. |
 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 their costumes ready for trick or treating that evening! |
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 ince the Sadochok students only attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, hey came to school dressed in their costumes and paraded around the classrooms the previous week on Thursday October 27th. |
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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, |
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| A few of the creative homemade costumes that students wore to school on 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. |
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| Sr. Anne and the Kindergarten class led the procession through each of the classrooms in the school. In this way. everyone was able to show off their costumes and see what everyone else was 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. |
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| The procession ended up in the gym where the students gathered for a short assembly |
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 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 before sending the students back to their classes to participate in their own classroom Halloween activities. |
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| Mr. Picklyk spoke for a few minutes at the assembly before dismissing the students back their classroom to participate in their own Halloween activities. On the way out of the gym, every student was given a small bag of chips. |
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 nother Halloween tradition at IHMS is for the staff to come to school wearing identical costumes. This has been a tradition for the past 23 years, and this year the teachers dressed in two different ways – some chose to wear orange and black, and others came dressed as an emoji. This information was kept a secret until the teachers wore their costumes to school that day. |
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| Top photos: IHMS staff dressed as emoji character. Bottom photo: all of the staff dressed either in orange and black or as an emoji. Click the bottom photo 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? |
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 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. |
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