Halloween Chalk Talk

Today was the School Halloween Parade. Halloween seems to rival Christmas now; the kids came home with a bag full of candy from school alone! Here they are, marching around the blacktop:


My daughter has been obsessed with cats lately, so naturally that was her costume choice. Somebody was giving out plastic 'fangs', and even though all the kids complained how it hurt their gums they wanted to wear them anyway.

Here is my son in his bat costume. He had previously added a jester hat to go with it, and was dubbed a 'ding bat', but he decided it wasn't cool enough to bring to school. Too bad, it was highly original.

No halloween parade is complete without the appropriate accoutrements. This little party crasher is a regular at the school playground; her owners are students!

After the parade everyone gathered for a 'Chalk Talk'. Chalk artist Elva Hurst tells a story while drawing a picture to go with it. She starts with a blank canvas (which I had a picture of, but was too dark to post), and while a tape plays her story, the picture unfolds...in 20 minutes! She was too amazing not to share. This year's program was about school days when she was young. Elva went to a one room Amish schoolhouse. As she recounted her daily school days routine, she drew:

This picture was taken 10 minutes into the program.

Here is artist Elva Hurst posing with the final piece. The picture doesn't do it justice. After her work is complete, the special light above it can be changed to reflect sunrise, mid-day, sunset and blacklight. The colors she uses are brought out with each setting and is truly beautiful. The children loved it; their unprovoked awe was obvious!