The Little Things Mean A Lot

          
When I arrived at Greenwood Elementary back in 1990, I was introduced to an event that had been started by two teachers a few years before, Friday Night Live. This was an elementary school sleepover. While it was presented as a reading activity, it really was a cover for the best elementary school event EV.ER. We had two alternating themes; Read for the Gold, an Olympic theme we used in Olympic years; and Read in the USA. With both events, as the students read, their pages translated into miles, and they traveled around the world or the United States. It was a premier event that kids looked forward to for most of their elementary years.

     In 1990, there were 2 Fourth grade classes and 2 Fifth Grade classes in the school consisting of a little over 100 kids, and almost all of them would participate. As the years went by, the number of classes increased as did the number of kids. Around 1994 or 95, it became just a 5th grade event because we had 3 classes of each grade and close to 140 kids, with 4th graders getting their own Friday Alive.  The activities and timeline morphed and changed over the years as we streamlined the program, but the basic premises were always the same. Come back to school, read, play games, eat, and sleepover.

     A typical schedule was something like this:
  

     6:15 - 6:30          Register

     6:30 – 6:50         Opening Ceremonies

     6:50 - 7:25          Read 1

     7:30 - 7:55          Game 1

     8:00 - 8:25          Read 2

     8:30 - 8:55          KickBoxing

     


      9:00 - 9:25          SNACK 1

     9:30 – 9:55         Game 2

     10:00 - 10:25      Read 3

     10:30 - 10:55      Game 3

     11:00 - 11:10      SNACK 2

     11:15 - 12:00      Storyteller

     12:00 - 12:15      Ready for Bed

     12:30                  Pillow Fight

 

Saturday

     6:45AM - 7:00 AM  Wake Up & Pack up

     7:00 - 7:30          Breakfast

     7:30 - 8:00          Closing Ceremonies

With a schedule like this, who could not have fun?

     
     It takes about 50 volunteers to pull this thing off, and every year, there is a great group of parents that rise to the occasion.  During the off times, parents and staff get a chance to get to know each other a little better in a very informal setting. This does a lot in building a Parent/Teacher relationship.
It also takes a great deal of time and effort from the Fifth Grade Team. Having participated for 23 years, I know of this first hand. The planning begins in September and gets more involved as the weeks go by. My hat is off to the team as it is rare to find teachers willing to come back to school on a Friday and spend the night with 100+ 5th graders. 
     
    The biggest payback is the memories it creates for the kids that participate. 24 years later, I still have former students, now in their 20s and 30s, tell me how much fun Friday Night Live was. They may not remember I taught them long division and how to multiply and divide fractions (Just flip the divisor and multiply!) but they do remember FNL. 

     I am not sure when we added the pillow fight, but it has to be the most anticipated activity we do. It is also the scariest for the teachers. If someone is going to get hurt, this is when it will happen.  We try to monitor it as much as possible, and give them lots of ground rules, like no hitting above the neck or below the knees, but 100 kids with pillows is insane, and lots and lots of fun. 
     
      This year, I am only going to stop by for a visit.  As much as my team wanted me to be involved, and as much as I would like to be involved, I think it's best that I let them have their moment in the sun. There is a season for everything, and I into the next one.  But after 23 years, I do have to stop by....... and I am okay with that.