By LINDA KELLETT

C-S-E News Staff

CANAJOHARIE— In what’s become a Halloween tradition, kindergartners last week paraded from their East Hill Elementary School classrooms to the Arkell Hall Adult Home in their scariest, prettiest, funniest, and most inventive holiday costumes.

After showcasing their creations for residents, the youngsters marched to the adjacent Arkell Center, where they performed holiday-themed fingerplays and action rhymes for the residents and guests gathered there.

Veteran kindergarten teacher Margaret Shannon on Wednesday said the East Hill students have engaged in the practice every year for about the last five years.

She said, “It’s a celebration of Halloween, but it’s also to spread good cheer.”

Additionally, she said the visit could be tied into a community service topic.

Song singing, Halloween poem recitations, the use of rhyming words, and counting backwards from five, for example, also help to connect learning across curriculums.

“We just finished a big families’ unit,” said Shannon. “Arkell is an extended community family.”

Although Halloween was celebrated across the valley yesterday, Shannon said the whole school celebrated Halloween on the East Hill campus on Friday.

More images in the Seen section.