Students at St. Mary School Swormville (SMS) wrapped up the last week of school before February break by celebrating “Spirit Week”. The faculty and students had a great deal of fun, and celebrated all week with themed dress-up days, special presentations, guest speakers, and more. Spirit Week serves not only as a break for students from the rigor of their typical academic schedules, but provides opportunities to reduce stress, improve memory, develop life skills, increase productivity, form bonds and solidify friendships within and across grade levels, and nurture creativity.
Students learned about something different each day of the week with five different themes. Monday’s theme was “Enjoying that Groovy Feeling”. Students were invited to dress as their favorite decade or musical genre, which for many students included tie dye, sock-hop, disco, hippie, neon, country, reggae, rock, or jazz. Students from the Montessori Pre-K classroom on up to grade 5 created musical instruments out of found materials, then preformed songs for each other using their instruments. Meanwhile, 6th - 8th graders learned about advertising and marketing while writing jingles to promote St. Mary School. The day concluded with an afternoon dance party for all grades, hosted by Kevin McCarthy in the school gym. Mr. McCarthy impressed upon students the power of believing in yourself and deciding on a plan in order to achieve your goals.
On Tuesday, students celebrated St. Valentines Day early with the theme “Loving our School Family”.
Students dressed in red, pink, or purple and exchanged sweet treats and
cards to mark the holiday. Grade 2 made homemade ice cream as part of
their Valentines Day class party. Grade levels also completed different
activities for "Junior Achievement in a Day”. Each age group had a crash
course in business and economics, presented in a fun and
age-appropriate way.
A very special visit from Bishop Michael Fisher was a highlight for students on Wednesday as part of their theme“Living for Jesus”. Bishop Fisher presided at Ash Wednesday Mass, distributed ashes, and visited classrooms to answer student questions, even leading the Kindergartners in prayer before their lunch! Students took part in a special Ash Wednesday Retreat for the rest of the day, which for younger students included making cards for nursing home residents and a special field trip to the historic St. Mary’s Chapel across the parking lot from school with Mrs. Christina Egleston, Director of Catholic Education, for Lenten reflection. Middle school students took part in SoulCore with Mrs. Jill Fleming, a unique way of praying the Rosary which unites body, mind, & soul in prayer, and also heard from guest speaker Mrs. BethAnn VanHorn.
On Thursday, the 100th day of school, SMS students could dress like they were 100 years old, or get creative instead and make their own t-shirt including 100 items. Activities for the day started off strong with "Minute to Win It" games in homeroom, followed by the championship round in the school gym with a balloon walk and gummy worm sorting challenge involving a plate full of whipped cream and no hands allowed! Mr. Harrison Reeds, Physical Education teacher, organized 100 PE Activities for the 100th Day of School, as well as a very informative presentation from about the Trout Hatching Project that is underway with Mrs. Kristy Witkowski, K-3 Science teacher. Mrs. Witkowski and Mr. Reeds have been working together with other staff and volunteers to hatch Brook Trout in an aquarium in the K-3 Science lab, which will be released in a local stream come Spring. Mr. Reeds, an avid fisherman, taught students what types of conditions are conducive to the growth of the trout inside the aquarium, including pH, water temperature, and nitrate levels. Mr. Reeds also took water samples from three local streams to determine which stream would provide the best environment for the young trout’s continued growth and development once they are released.
In addition to
these activities, students from Montessori Pre-K to grade 3 enjoyed the
Milk for Health Magic Show, which is always an entertaining classic, and
4th - 8th graders participated in scavenger hunts around the school in
mixed age level teams. They utilized the Goosechase app to complete the
activity, which included fun items like creating a human pyramid,
finding everyone on their team’s photos in the school collage, and
posing like a famous work of art. The day concluded with 8th grade relay
races, pitting one homeroom against another, and as you can see from the video, the students' (and teachers’) competitive spirits were out in
full effect!
For Friday, the last day of Spirit Week, the
theme “Expanding our World Through Reading” was chosen. Students
dressed as their favorite storybook characters, and enjoyed wonderful
presentations from local author Rick Winter, and author/illustrator
Heather Lynn Harris, about how they find inspiration to create their
books, as well as their processes for taking a book from an initial idea
all the way to the printing press and into young readers’ hands.
Students from preK - grade 8 also enjoyed Bingo altogether in the gym,
followed by a pizza lunch. The week concluded with a very special
presentation of “The Masked Reader”, put together by Technology teacher
Mrs. Julie Long and staff and parent volunteers. Students had fun trying
to guess who each “masked reader” was, which was extra challenging with
the voice alterations made to disguise their identities! Check out the video here and see if you can guess who is reading before they are
revealed.
School spirit days are important for their ability to facilitate community bonding by increasing interaction and engagement. This can have huge benefits, reports Ana Homayoun in an essay for Business Insider. At a time when so many students report feeling isolated among peers, simply complimenting a classmate's costume or participating in class competitions can become low-stakes opportunities for connection around a common goal or theme. The skills of making and maintaining friendship is often overlooked in today’s academic settings, and the need to create opportunities to build these skills is critical during developmental years. Especially as so many of our interactions have moved online, school spirit days can provide that chance to interact in person and find commonalities across differences, have a shared vision, find ways to celebrate creativity, and build confidence by allowing students to showcase their creativity and talents outside the traditional classroom setting.