Field Day ESP!

As I was driving my daughter to school on Friday, I was thinking about how cool it would be to have an old fashioned 'Field Day'! I remember they were the most fun days at school as a kid. We all got to go outside and have relay races, do funny obstacle courses, and it was always a blast. I think at the end of the day each class had a skit to perform as well... it was neat. Anyway - I was thinking about how much fun it would be for my daughter to participate in that sort of thing, and wondering if she would ever get the chance. Part of the Montessori philosophy is the lack of competition within the classroom setting... and at my daughter's school that has always been applied to any other types of things as well. Earlier this year, while trying to come up with ideas for bringing in more Box Tops for Education coupons, I brought up that each classroom could compete to see which one could bring in the most Box Tops, and whichever class won would get a special treat. (I'm the coordinator for our school) That idea was nixed almost as fast as it reached my lips. There was to be NO COMPETITION whatsoever for the children in this school.

So anyway, I was thinking it would be fun, and trying to figure out a way to broach the subject with the Head of School, but got sidetracked by our usual Ride-to-School conversations. (How well Taylor Anne's unicorn could fly, and what boy she would chase first on the playground, and why a certain person shouldn't be considered her 'friend' if they kept doing mean things, etc.)

I had to go into school on Friday morning to stuff the 'family folders' with whatever communication the school needed to get out to the parents, plus all of the work each child did that week. So, I walked into the classroom and two kids came up to Taylor Anne saying "Today is Field Day!" - Boy was I surprised! (I hadn't heard anything about it, and obviously hadn't checked the online calendar recently, or I would have known!) While walking to the lounge to stuff the folders, I walked by the playground and indeed the older kids (4-6th graders) were setting up the activities! I was so excited, and intrigued by the fact this was going to happen somehow! After stuffing the folders, I went out and watched the Children's house classrooms at the Field Day activities:

Taylor Anne doing part of an obstacle course 'whirl around the baseball bat'?

The Children's house kids listening to relay instructions.

Taylor Anne and a 6th grader squeezing out the watery sponge into the bucket. At certain stations they had 'older' kids helping and encouraging the younger ones.

Running back to pass the sponge to the next person.

Taylor Anne walking on the balance beam after another student in her group. Note the 'bigger kid' waiting at the end of the obstacle course to give 'fives' to the younger kids once they were finished! I love it!

It was wonderful. They were broken up into 4-5 groups of maybe 12 kids, and each group would complete a 'station' together. At the relay stations they would be split further into two teams of 6 or so, and the 6 were randomly divided out at each station so they were cheering each other on, because they were all one big team together. There was a water bucket and sponge relay, two separate obstacle courses complete with tires, spin on the bat, jump through the hula hoop, and a balance beam; a basketball shooting station, a double tricycle relay race, and even a 'Tug of war'. All of the kids seemed to be having a wonderful time, and none of them felt like they were winning or losing anything. It was really neat.

I think I have ESP...