The pumpkin party

Today was our pumpkin party at school. We were told a month ago to pick a date during this week to do a presentation and I was damned if I was going to do another pageant where the kids have to all dress up like snowflakes or ducks or asparagus or something weird. I said we would do a pumpkin party. We are not allowed to celebrate Halloween at school so I thought I would do the pumpkins without making Jack-o-lanterns out of then. We did it in the classroom where the kids feel comfortable. The parents came almost all on time. We put on our little pumpkin hats and sang our “hello” song for our guests. Then I just gave a short explanation about Halloween in the US and afterwards the kids sang the pumpkin song they learned and love so much. They’ve been singing it all day for the entire month. After we took our bows, I cut one pumpkin open and a mom cut the other one. I was really happy to get the parents engaged.  When we got the tops of the pumpkins off, we let the kids put their hands in the pumpkins and feel the goop. Everyone got to take home a plastic bag full of pumpkin seeds. Then it got really exciting. The music teacher brought in her juicer and and each kid got to stuff an apple into the juicer. We then had homemade apple juice and donuts which my TA ordered from a store near her home. Everything went really well. I told the parents that the party was officially over but anyone who wanted to stay and play with the kids could. And actually, several parents did. They read to their kids in English and put puzzles together with them. One parent was excited because she said it was like a real party with food. Another parent said she liked it much better than the pageants that our usually put on in the auditorium. And, of course, the administration sent in the photographer and the cameraman to record everything and put it on the school’s Facebook page. I really wish they’d pay more attention to substance rather than cosmetics. They’ve got to start spending some of that photography money on teachers’ pay to get some high quality staff in here. Their concept is good. They just haven’t figured out all the practicalities of it yet.