Blog News Detail
What a Treat: Halloween Spirit at GISC
Weekly Update from the Director – Halloween Edition – November 1, 2024
Dear GISC Community,
Halloween, what a wonderful event to experience as an adult in a school. What I enjoy about it is simple… duh, it’s the costumes.
Dressing up in childhood is very important. The act of transformation into another role fosters imagination for sure, but it also helps children understand that relating to others or understanding others is a superpower they possess.
Most often in everyday play, children dress up in non-elaborate or non-Halloween-like manners: a toddler may pick up keys and transform herself into a driver; in preschool, kids may take a plate and turn it into a steering wheel to become a driver; and in 1st grade, the child may not need any props to pretend to be a driver. Initially, props are a child’s costumes; and eventually, they understand enough of what it takes and means to be a driver. But the most important part is that children make conscious decisions as to what props – if any – they require to become the role they are enacting.
Halloween (oder Fasching) is different as regards dressing up. It is usually an elaborate or predetermined costume, often purchased off the rack. And, yes, it would be best to engage the child’s imagination in developing the costume. The process of creating the costume is as important as wearing it. Ok, old man, enough of the “Back in my day, we created our own costumes” attitude. Of course, creativity was abundant at GISC on Halloween!
That said, Halloween or Fasching or a costume party is the best because you see all the children dressed up together, having fun, dancing, or miming. It’s the collective energy that makes a Halloween event at school so special. Herr Karner is our expert at awakening the festive energy as the emcee of the Lower School Halloween party. Ha, just ask any Kindergarten teacher about this collective energy.
The real trick on Halloween is that dressed up kids get to ask neighbors for a treat, which gets consumed that evening, at which point you as parents may experience the highest expression of energy. What a treat…
Happy Halloween and all the best as we enter the month of November. Our upcoming Laternenfest next week will offer yet another opportunity for a memorable childhood experience; craft a lantern, and walk in the darkness, and sing about the sun, moon, and the stars.
Here’s to a great month of festivities and experiences at GISC,
Ben Hebebrand
GISC Director
Ben Hebebrand
GISC Director
1726 W Berteau Ave, Chicago, IL 60613 | +1-773-857-3000 | info [at] germanschoolchicago.com
German International School Chicago (GISC) is an IB World School that prepares students to become well-rounded, creative, and responsible global citizens. Located in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, GISC provides students with a German-English bilingual education in a supportive and individualized learning environment. GISC graduates are prepared academically and socially to succeed in an increasingly global world. Now enrolling Preschool to 8th Grade.
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