wild and crazy last day of school activity

[grade6english]

The hot, steamy days of June are still a long way off but I wanted to get your thoughts on an event that my middle school and our local Parks Department are planning for the last day of classes.

The Parks Department has offered to create a giant mud pit in a park next to our school. And...you guessed it...we're going to let our students (grades 6-8) spend the last two hours of school playing in the mud!

It involves digging out a shallow field in the park, trucking in tons of top soil and then having the Fire Department water it the entire night before to make deep, gooey, oozing mud! From what I have heard several Parks Departments around the country have started doing events like this, but most are in the middle of the summer.

Parents will be invited to come and watch. We will also send home notes for parents to sign, recommending that students come to school that day in old shorts and T-shirts or swimsuits (anything that can get ruined) and a towel and a change of cloths. The Fire Department will be there to hose down the mud-caked students.

I guess every sixth, seventh or eighth grader dreams of getting to play in the mud at some point. Has anyone else done anything like this for the last day of school? Any thoughts?

[Chef Dave]

Any thoughts?

1) Invite all students to bring a change of clothing and a towel.

2) Invite students to bring squirt guns.

3) Set up a water balloon station for making water balloons.

4) Set up rinsing stations with garden hoses where students can spray off the worst of the mud. If you have showers in the school, so much the better.

5) Keep an eye out for pedophiles with telephoto lenses. It's an unfortunate fact that there are some very sick people out there who may try and take photographs of kids in bathing suits. (If you have a district police officer, it might be nice if the police officer was in attendance).