H Words and the Hilarious Hat Parade

Dear Parents, went the school notice,

I take my "H" hat off to all you "H" hard working parents!!!

The children are "H" Happy learning new letters each week.

Some "H" have brought in small things that start with the focus letter.

As part of our "H" hilarious "H,h." week could you please dress your child in a "H" Humorous "H" Hat!

Everyone will join in our "H" hat parade.

This day will take place on Tue 13th May 3008. Thank you for your "H" help...

God bless you,
Miss A, Ms C, Miss H, and Mrs W

I trembled at the thought of having to magic a hat (a Hilarious one at that!) out of nothing. I may be creative at some things, but art and craft is not one of them. So I did the next best thing; I went to Mandy for help. Mandy's from our church and has 3 boys at Heathdale. They're all much older than Beth, so she's been there, done that. Besides, she loves collecting costumes, and would definitely have a hat in her collection somewhere.

We popped by the Sawyer house over the weekend, and came away with TWO bags full of hats. There was so much to choose from, from a cute red felt beret to a multicoloured clown wig (which I thought was perfect but which Beth frowned at) to cowboy hats.

Beth and I decided that she would wear the red beret, twirl a giant pink flower around the rim and stick on a few felt shapes from the ABC chart in the playroom.

Easy as pie.

On Tue, the parents arrived at the Prep school line-up to see a marvellous array of colourful, unusual, amazing headgear.

Emily had on a huge red wig.

Ethan had painted over his cowboy hat in black and white and there was a colourful macaw perched on his head.

Someone had devil's horns sticking out of his cap.

Triston had on a made-from-scratch-by-Mum tall magician's hat with giant flaps. Hats off to Yvonne - as usual - for her creativity and energy!

But the best part of all was when the four Prep teachers came out to greet their classes....and they all had on their Hilarious hats! Ms C had on a pointy hat that looked like what Vietnamese girls wear in the padi fields. Miss H had a tall fairy hat on with a veil at the back.

It was such a beautiful sight, how the teachers just plunged right in so sportingly and with no inhibitions.

All the kiddies and teachers marched to the quadrangle, where they proceeded to have a Hat Parade.

I almost missed out on the parade because I didn't know parents were invited. Then Jennifer's mum came running up and shouting excitedly, “善明，善明！快来看!" Thanks, Lily. :-)

Each class took turns to march around and show off their hats, while the two judges made notes. While the judges were deliberating, Ms C (and her trusty guitar) led the kiddies in a rousing rendition of the Hokey Pokey dance.

Then the results were announced and certs were given out to each class for Most Colourful Hat, Biggest Hat, Most Unusual Hat etc.

Pity I forgot my camera.

We've definitely made the right choice sending Beth to Heathdale. She's learning to develop her whole person, and to do it in a supportive Christian environment.