Rural schools mix academics and Halloween fun
In the heart of San Benito County, past the Hollister city
limits, past the turnoff for Panoche, past even the entrance to the
Pinnacles National Monument, roams a band of ancient Egyptian
Pharaohs. At least they roamed the playground of Jefferson School
for a day.
Rural schools mix academics and Halloween fun
In the heart of San Benito County, past the Hollister city limits, past the turnoff for Panoche, past even the entrance to the Pinnacles National Monument, roams a band of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. At least they roamed the playground of Jefferson School for a day.
The 20 students at Jefferson School and the four students from Panoche School collaborated for a one-of-a-kind Halloween party that intertwined academics with the fun.
During the festivities, students from Jefferson, Panoche (who studied Egyptian history) and Bitterwater-Tully roamed the two-classroom campus dressed in the noble robes and blue-and-gold striped head dresses of ancient Pharaohs.
The afternoon events, open to the community, included a costume contest, donut bopping, and plenty of hand-made carnival games with candy or toys as prizes.
Leading up to the Halloween event, the students spent six weeks studying ancient Egypt.
“Basically, I knew they built pyramids and had chariots,” said Matthew Reikowski, 9, of Jefferson School. “We learned that with pyramids, the tomb wasn’t inside, but it was in a tomb underground.”
Tina Plunkett, the teacher and principal at Jefferson worked with Ottalie Davis, the teacher and principal at Panoche School, and some parents to develop the curriculum for the students.
“For me, I came from Southern California where we don’t have any Halloween activities in schools,” Plunkett said, who is in her first year at the school. “I came in with that in mind. I wanted to do anything that would help with the academics while having fun.”
The two schools teamed on some events, such as building a model of Egypt complete with pyramids that they displayed during the festival.
“The challenge is that I teach K-8 so we had to make it relevant to all the kids which is not always an easy task,” Plunkett said. “The hardest thing was to explain how large the pyramids are and put it in perspective.”
The students finally understood just how big the pyramids are when they saw a video in class that showed a person standing next to one block of a pyramid and it was bigger than the person, Plunkett said.
“I liked learning how they built the pyramids,” said Catriona Brunneman, a third-grader at Jefferson School, who couldn’t wait to try her hand at a donut-bobbing contest.
With all the studying, the children also worked on games for their Egyptian-themed carnival. The games included a pyramid ring toss, beanbag tosses and even a bowling-ball game with pins decorated as the ancient jars used to hold human organs after the mummification process. The students made signs for each game using hieroglyphics and Plunkett provided a translation key to students.
“Mostly I liked when we were doing the stuff for the party,” said Matthew, adding, “And learning how the civilization was formed.”
He and his brother Peter created a chariot pulled by a sawhorse with help from their aunt and grandmother. Peter rode in the chariot while Matthew pulled him by the wooden horse, though steering proved difficult at times while they marched to the Bangles’ “Walk like an Egyptian.”
Parents and neighbors joined in the festivities with the students – for many kids the school activity is their only chance to have some Halloween fun since their location in the southern part of San Benito County makes traditional trick-or-treating difficult.
“You’d have to walk three miles to get somewhere,” said Patty Swanson, Matthew and Peter’s mother.
Swanson helped with the activities through the weeks, reading stories to the students about life in ancient Egypt.
Students, parents and teachers dubbed the day a success.
“We have a few kids with just an interest in history and that really fueled it,” Plunkett said. “We do try to do these events that get the community involved.”
Melissa Flores can be reached at [email protected].
