Family Night and Circus Smirkus

What a wonderful month this has been! We had a great turnout for our annual Family Night. Mrs. Mary Wood, former Swanton teacher, does the lion's share of organizing this event. The theme this year was "olden days." Families enjoyed making applesauce the "old fashioned" way; learning about "olden times" school days from our own Mrs. Babcock; playing old fashioned games with Mr. and Mrs. Suitor; and many more activities. Performance highlights were the old time music performed by Mrs. Ewell and Mrs. Messier and the local Abenaki Youth Dance Troupe. We had a mystery photo, which several families wrote stories about. I promised to post the true story of the mystery here: Mrs. Langlois (who works for the Supervisory Union) bought a frame at a local auction. She took the picture out of the frame, and behind the original picture was this photo of children all dressed in elaborate costumes. She did some research and learned the photo was taken in "Bullard Hall" in the 1800s. Bullard Hall was a performance space, in the building which now has the "New 2 You" furniture store on the bottom floor. The children were taking theatre classes from "Mrs. Carpenter." The "Champlain Theatre" used to hold performances in Bullard Hall. This was long before television or movies, so live theatre was a big part of many Vermont towns, with performance spaces such as the Enosburg or Barre Opera Houses in the larger towns. Swanton had its own space in "Bullard Hall."

The Circus residency has been amazing. Christine Landon is simply wonderful with the students, who are learning important lessons that go far beyond balancing and juggling. They are so incredibly attentive! Its been really interesting to see which children are able to pick up quickly on the circus skills. All the children learned important lessons that Christine emphasized: Try! Try Again! Try a new way! Watch! Listen! Step by Step! Go slow! Get help! All the students were really engaged and willing to "give it a go." This week Christine is working with younger students K-2 and the other two 3rd grade classes who have PE at the Babcock gym. We were really lucky to have this opportunity - normally, a residency would be far beyond our means, but Smirkus got a grant to allow them to offer the residency at a remarkably reduced rate to only a few Vermont schools. As soon as I read about the opportunity, I called and signed us up! Thanks to the McAllisters for providing a home for Christine these past two weeks, and to Milton and Jessie Tabor, two "long ago" Swanton residents who left a trust fund to our school for cultural enrichment activities.