Sunday, November 18, 2007 ;
6:30 AM
Nov 16
Fri
9am-12.30pm
Leaf-a-thon at school
The school organised a Leaf-a-thon for all the levels. Grades K-12 did theirs at Tracy Aviary while the preschool did theirs on the school grounds.
A month before, Leafathon packets were passed out to us parents. We were told to call "rich uncles in Cleveland" and also companies for donations, which are fully tax deductible. Their suggested donation was US$10 per person and a minimum goal of US$200 per student to hand in. Money was to raise funds for the school. Activity aim was also to provide more opportunities for kids to do community service.
I had a big headache after receiving that. I don't have any relatives in USA. I don't like asking people for money. That's why I became a teacher. Never liked to deal with money.
We ourselves donated $30. Asked around in church, cos those were our closer friends. But I did tell them any amount would do, because I don't want to impose the $10 thing on them. $10 is a lot actually. We actually filled up the whole sheet, but because we didn't have a min of $10 per donation, we hit $100+ only, not $200. Dh said nevermind, just hand it in that way, cos they're just preschool kids, don't expect them to canvas for as much funds as the high school students.
So I did. Then I saw, the mom in front of me handed in a packet with only $40 in total. Only she and her sister donated, I think. Dh said, "see lah, told you so. you always want to be so on."
The actual day was actually fun and taught the kids a thing or two about working hard to help others.
Kids already had a lot of practice at home, since we have to rake our own leaves, and the church compound's too.
We waited till the leaves on the tree had more or less all fell off before raking them, so sometimes, when you uncover the leaf pile, especially in the corners or a damp dark area, many insects and creepy crawlies will be beneath. Yuck. I don't like the wormy creatures very much. But we left them alone cos they're beneficial to the garden.
Here are just a few we uncovered. That's a spider on the right, not classified as an insect or worm, just in case I get you confused in my description.
However, everytime we get a pile of leaves, the kids will wanna jump in them. :-) 
Above left: that's our front lawn, which seems small in summer when kids are running around and playing hide and seek, and when the trampoline is out. But it seems so huge when we have leaves to rake. It felt neverending, that there's so much to cover.
Below: the kids also had lots of fun flinging leaves onto themselves and each other.
So on Friday, we worked very hard in school. I think in all, everyone helped to bag 20 bags?
Above left: all the kids and the teacher were having a snack in between the hard work.
Above right: raking and bagging in process.
I liked raking. I didn't like the bagging process so much, because I don't have those tools to put the leaves into the bags. I had to stoop down and gather the leaves with my hands and throw them into the bags. I was afraid I'd touch all the insects and worms. Arrrgh. But there were so many kids around, so I had to be brave and do it all with a smile.
That's called setting an example. Something you have to do when you become a parent.
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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