Costumes, gingerbread houses, and secret pals

Halloween is a big party for us at Community School. The older children transform a portion of our campus into a spooky, entertaining world for the younger children and parents to visit. It's always amazing to see what kids can create with enough imagination, tarps and duct tape. Parents provide a variety of fun activities and treats that keep us busy all afternoon. We all wear costumes in the spirit of the day (no masks and no violent or extremely scary themes).

Gingerbread Houses is an all-school exception to our strict snack policy. Parents provide innumerable treats for children to decorate their original fairy-tale houses. The creativity and sugar flows on this final day of school before Winter Break.

Secret Pal Gift Exchange is an all-day event for our school. Several weeks of written, anonymous clues and wild guesses leads up to the exchange of home-made gifts. The presents are tailored to the secret pal that each child randomly selected weeks before the exchange. The cost of materials for the gifts is limited to $5 (to stress creativity). Students and staff get to know each other better over the two weeks leading up to the event (typically held on Valentine's Day).