Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at the Springs School participated in the annual idiom contest on Halloween as an educational way to have fun on an otherwise crazy school day. The contest challenged students to interpret an idiom with a costume and/or props for the judges, who were the school's administrators.
The contest was started years ago by an eighth grade English teacher, Emily O'Reilly, and it's still going strong. Students used their creativity, silliness, and overall zest for learning to make the contest a success.
Students worked on their presentations for days, even weeks. Many chose to work as a group idiom while others opted to work alone. Some of the very popular phrases were "time flies" and "tough cookie" or "smart cookie."
Addison Cinelli, a sixth grader, participated in the contest for the first time. "It was exciting to see how many people took part in the contest and how creative some of their ideas were," she said. "I think it was a great experience for many of the students, and it taught students to work hard. It turned out to be a great contest."
The sixth-grade winners were Derek Loja with his "time flies" costume in first place. "Monkey business" by Hudson Thomas and Daniel Cabrera took second place, and "two peas in a pod" by Avery Dalene and Gracen Keyes took third place. Derek's costume stood out not only for the cardboard clock hanging around his neck, but also the wings on his arms displaying photos of himself throughout each grade.
In the seventh grade, Nicholas Rivera and Johan Mones earned first place with their "bigger fish to fry" costume. Alessandro Tucci won second place with his "down in the dumps" costume, and in third place were Jack Miller, Wyatt Musser, and Griffin Page with their idiom, "it's not rocket science."
For eighth grade, Jayleen Garcia and Callie Amicucci won first place with their "thick as thieves" outfits. Nadia Binozi, Rafaela DeMartis, and Andrey Verdugo won second place with their idiom, "it's a wild goose chase," and Isabella Villa and Estefania Alverez earned third place with "a picture paints 1,000 words."
This year's contest may be over, but students will be thinking outside the box once again when it returns next year.
By Julia Stillman, Grade 6