Halloween Party!

We had a great time at our classroom Halloween party on October 30! Check out some pictures from the party...

Ericka (snow princess), Modesty (mermaid), and Jay (ninja) are enjoying their snacks.

Kennedy made the perfect Snow White!

Malachi (Cowboys football player) and Mrs. Morgan (Redskins football player) share a hug...even though they are on rival teams.

Snack time with Alyssa, Dylan, Logan, Izaac, Alexis, and Superman....I mean, Donavin.



We got to decorate our pumpkins from Jackson's Orchard!

Izaac shows off his pumpkin.

Super-Donavin

Jordan showing off his artistic ability.

Aaliyah has made a cute little pumpkin face.

Ja'Marian had a HUGE pumpkin! Their only rule at the pumpkin patch was to pick a pumpkin they could carry on their own. Ja'Marian must be very strong!

Modesty takes her time with her pumpkin.

Brandi...the sweetest witch I've ever met.

Audrey is all smiles while working on her pumpkin.

Mrs. Morgan carved a classroom jack-0-lantern. The students got to help get the seeds and other gunk out of the pumpkin. Ericka was a big help! She really dug in!

Here is Jordan being a big helper and getting all the seeds out of the pumpkin.

Jackson's Orchard Field Trip

We went to Jackson's Orchard on Wednesday, October 28. We took a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin, walked to the apple orchard to pick apples, learned how apple cider is made, enjoyed some delicious sugar cookies and apple cider slushies, played on the hay bale playground, and slid down 60-foot slides! We had a GREAT time!

Here we are, all smiles, on the bus ride to the orchard...

We loved the big, bumpy slides! Even Mrs. Vibbert and Mrs. Morgan had a slide race.

Hooray for apple picking!

Koral found a delicious apple!

Snack Time! Jackson's Orchard provided us with sugar cookies and apple cider slushies.

Ericka enjoyed the petting zoo. We got to pet goats, llamas, and ponies.

Jackson's has a playground made out of straw! We got to run and jump all over the hay! Audrey is taking a little break from all the fun...

Alexis poses for a great picture...

Jayden, Ericka, Brandi, and Logan making their way around the straw bales.

Malachi is on top of the world!

And Kennedy is, too. (with a little help from Mom)

We each got to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!

Louis found a good looking pumpkin!

Hayride time! Ja'Marian, Audrey, and Dylan are best buddies.

At the end of the day, we were very tired from all the fun that we had.

Kentucky Night!

Highland was turned into a museum on Tuesday, October 27. Each class was in charge of researching and presenting information on different aspects of Kentucky. Our class was in charge of learning about the Kentucky Derby. We learned all about horses and the traditions surrounding the Derby. Check out our pictures below to see how we did...

Logan shows off his stick horse. On the morning of the Kentucky Derby, the governor holds a stick horse race on the Capitol lawn for all the children who attend.

Louis poses in front of our "Horses" table in our classroom "museum". We had the 2009 Kentucky Derby playing on the Interwrite board behind him. Go, Mine That Bird!!!

Ja'Marian and Cam'ron get a picture in front of the horses' starting gate. And they're off!!!

Koral and Kennedy show off the beautiful garland of roses. The winning horse at the Derby is draped in a blanket of 554 red roses.

Did you see our awesome jockey silks (shirts)? Thank you, Mrs. Napier, for helping out with making these shirts!

Here are some shots of our classroom museum. The students worked very hard to prepare for Kentucky Night.

Here are some of our Derby crafts that we made...

Many female fans wear big, fancy hats to the Derby. We made our very own miniature Derby hats! We painted styrofoam cups with acrylic paint, Mrs. Morgan put them in the oven for a few minutes and they shrank to these 2 or 3 inch tall miniature hats. The students were then able to decorate their hats with flowers, beads, and ribbons. Beautiful!

We made these cute little jockeys out of plastic Easter eggs.

A Visit from Churchill Downs
A representative from Churchill Downs came to visit Highland prior to Kentucky Night. We learned even more about the Kentucky Derby in order to prepare for Highland's Kentucky Night. We had so much fun!

We got to see REAL jockey silks...

Koral and Alyssa were picked to assist the speaker in one of his many activities...

Jordan and Donavin had to "name that shape" in order to add them to the jockey silk...

Here the speaker shows us a picture of Churchill Downs...

Making Jockey Silks

Here we are working hard to prepare for Kentucky Night. We have been learning all about the Kentucky Derby. Today we designed our very own jockey silks. "Silks" are the shirts that jockeys wear. Each jockey's silk is unique. We first colored the "fabric" of the silks and then added shapes of our choice, including circle, squares, diamonds, and triangles.