Pumpkins and Phillies and Diwali, oh my!

As the rest of the city celebrated the Phillies' World Series win with a huge parade, CPS had their own celebrating and learning to do!

This week, CPS learned about different holidays and cultural traditions celebrated at this time of year. Most famously, of course: Halloween. In Community Meeting, the second graders taught the school about the history of the Halloween traditions, answering questions like, why do we call carved pumpkins jack-o-lanterns?

The second graders teach CPS about Halloween.

Meanwhile, many CPS students had been reading and learning about pumpkins this week. With some help from Mrs. Hayes, first grade carved a pumpkin and got to see what is on the inside! A few brave volunteers separated all of the pumpkin seeds out of all the pumpkin "goo" and displayed their findings at Community Meeting.

First grade shows CPS what the inside of a pumpkin looks  like.

Then, Ms. Guha-Roy taught CPS about a Hindu holiday she celebrates called Diwali, which is the Indian Festival of Lights. To celebrate, the first graders made Diwali decorations and showed them to the school. Ms. Guha-Roy explained that people dress in really bright colors, spend time with family and friends, eat good food, and light candles during Diwali. CPS noted that there are many other holidays related to lights, like Christmas and Hannukah.

Ms. Guha-Roy explains how she celebrates Diwali to CPS.