Spooktacular Recap

T and I had a great day celebrating Halloween a little early. Here is our photo report:

T thought the man at the top center (near the flag) looked like he was dressed as Professor Quirrell from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

All the musicians at the concert this morning dressed in costume (see above), and the music was as good as advertised. They played the theme from Disney's Phantasia, two brief classical pieces, then several popular songs - Monster Mash (with a vocalist), Thriller (with the audience providing the vocals), and Ghostbusters (again with BIG audience participation). T was worried they wouldn't play anything from Harry Potter, but TSO did not disappoint, performing a great medley from the films.

"Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!" The kids loved singing along.

Abby didn't sit with us for the concert but she did come over to visit with us while we waited for the buses to come pick us up.

Love Lexi's Halloween costume.

After the concert, we went back to school for class Halloween parties. The home room parent for T's class went all out! It was an extravaganza. 

Cheesenstein! A big (delicious!) cheese ball with black olives for hair, mouth, nose and eyebrows; cucumbers for his eyes.

Taco dip scarecrow. Also yummy. 

Worms! Hot dogs cut into strips length-wise. Pretty clever, huh? 

Spooky punch on a darling punch table.

Mummies! Cocktail weiners wrapped in crescent dough, with mustard dots for eyes. The kids loved these!

Macaroni and cheese (with gummy worms garnishing the edges), veggies with dip, and friendship mix completed lunch. For dessert, the kids decorated sugar cookies and dipped fruit and marshmallows into a chocolate fountain! (I mentioned this was an extravaganza, right?) It was a great party and a great day for both of us.

We're looking forward to sharing one more Halloween post on Sunday: pictures of some of our favorite decorations from neighbors' and friends' yards.

Spooktacular (aka Fifth-Grade-Friday)

I'm spending the day today with the fifth grade, first at a field trip to the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra's Spooktacular, and then at T's class's Halloween Party afterward. Doesn't the concert look fun? I'll report back how it goes and share some of the fun from the party. Kim, the room parent, has a ton of great ideas and is bringing her chocolate fountain to school.

Volunteer of the Month

Since I am the volunteer of the month at DeSoto Trail Elementary School for the month of May I thought I'd share a little bit about the things I do at school and share the fun prizes that go along with the bragging rights.

There are 4 main things I do at school: Mile Club, Monday Mom, Popcorn and chaperoning field trips.

Mile Club is from 8-8:30am each morning before school. Before school, kids who want to can walk laps around the soccer field. Each lap is 1/6 of a mile. Each child has a big index card that's marked each time he/she completes a lap. When they complete 30 laps (5 miles), they get a little prize; then another at 15 miles. At 26 miles they earn a Marathon t-shirt, then another prize at 35 miles and at 50 miles. Every day, weather permitting, Thomas and I pick up two kids from the ESE classroom and take them with us to Mile Club. We walk for half an hour, take the kids back to class, and then I sort all the kids' cards back into the box for the PE coaches. I feel like they are giving up their time each morning to make this great activity available at the school, and it's the least I can do to help out.

Almost every class at school has a Monday Mom (or parent) who sorts all the work the kids did in the last week and then puts it in each child's Monday folder along with any handouts that need to go home that week.

Every fourth Wednesday I help the Red and Gold Club with their popcorn sales. Mostly this involves supervising the kids (while they make, bag and sell the popcorn) and then cleaning up the popcorn machines and the whole area. It's a pretty messy enterprise!

Chaperoning field trips is always fun, even if it is a little exhausting. This year the 4th grade has had 3 trips - in February we went to Goodwood Museum & Gardens and the Riley House Museum as part of the Blended Lives program; in April to St. Augustine; and this Thursday we're going to the Florida Historic Capitol and the Museum of Florida History. I also help out at school functions, like manning a booth at the Book Character Festival, helping out at the Book Fair, etc.

Prizes: In honor of my service, the PTO donated this book to the school's Media Center. It's great because I love baseball. Louis Sockalexis was the first Native American to play major league baseball - and he played for the Cleveland Spiders. Enjoyed it a lot.

I also got this pretty plant and a nice certificate! 

Friday morning, as long as T cooperates, he and I will be on WDTS, the school TV station, during morning announcements when Ms. Kelly, the Media Specialist announces the PTO's book donation to library. She wants the kids to all understand why some books have special stickers inside their covers, which is great. 

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