Good Afternoon. It has been such a busy week at school, that no knitting has gone on. Why? Well, I'm a class advisor for the freshman class, and it was Homecoming week, so we've been busy little beavers! Homecoming week for the kids involves a few little competitions between classes, which include a parade float and a class dance (to be performed at the big Homecoming Dance!).
Last Saturday was spent building things for the parade float. This year's Homecoming theme was "The Games People Play", and each class had to come up with a board game for their float. The freshman decided upon "Chess", and set out to create a human chess game as their float. They constructed a HUGE chess board out of donated pizza boxes, hats for their designated chess pieces, and other details to be placed on the trailer for the parade. What was really cool, was that the kids got together, made some really great choices, and then devided themselves up into groups to do the jobs that needed to be done! Talk about teamwork! It was really awesome to watch them take chage, be creative, and do the work! The other advisor and I just kinda stood there and supervised while they did all the work. (They also planned that the other advisor and I would be one of the king and queen pieces on the float, so we got costumes together and got to be part of the parade. When the kids ask, you can't say "no", you know what I mean? And we had a ball and laughed, danced, sang and chanted with them all the way along the parade route. Which is probably why at the moment I can sing notes lower than Bea Arthur ever even dreamed of...)
During the week, they worked on their dance during lunch periods and afterschool in my chorus room. On Wednesday, they decided that they needed to have shirts to designate their chess pieces for the dance, so we bought white tee shirts that they painted (in my office - which now stinks of paint - LOL!) with stenciled designs and their names.
So, Thursday night was the Parade and Bonfire at school. The floats were lined up at the local firehouse, in order - Freshmen (Chess), Sophomores (Candyland), Juniors (Twister), and Seniors (Clue)(The Seniors' float was AMAZING, which, because it was the game "Clue, not only had rooms, but a fire place and bookcases as well!). The fall sports teams were also in the parade, marching and singing and chanting. The local Rotary also hosted about 50 of the Foreign Exchange students from thier local region, and there were about 50 Exchange students that marched in the parade with us. The awesome thing about this was that they were at the beginning of the parade, and the Rotary gave them flags of their country, so there were about 30 flags of different nations on 8 foot poles! It was a mass of color, and it made me a little teary to see them marching in front of our kids! It was just awesome! And at some point during the parade, several of these exchange students dispersed themselves amongst the floats, and I distinctly remember 3 kids from France leading my kids in chanting "Vive la France" at the top of their lungs as we rolled down the street!
Friday night was the Homecoming game and dance. Unfortunately, our team lost 14 to 6. But everyone was still in high spirits at the dance. The freshmen did really well with their dance (they didn't think so), but they did have a lot of fun. The shirts they painted looked great!
The Freshmen came in 3rd place out of 4 (they kick the Juniors asses BIG TIME!), and for their first taste of high school class competition, I think they did very well. It's always a learning experience for them, and there will be more competing during the year, so they've had a good start.
Needless to say, I slept for 11 hours last night, crawling out of bed at 10:30. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! They're a great bunch of kids, and I'm so very proud to be working with them. It's really great to be so involveed again! I decided also that I would give them my time and not worry about taking pictures, since there was also a designated school photographer from the yearbook staff that would be doing that, so as soon as I get some pics e-mailed to me, I'll give you a little peek at some pics of the events!
Now I need a nap.... Have a great weekend!
