By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Fun music, great weather, and, of course, plenty of water greeted students at Perkins Elementary on Friday. The kids got to escape their regular classrooms for an afternoon of water games to celebrate the fast approaching end of the school year.
The activities were organized by PE teacher Erin Leavitt and was carried out with the help of many parent volunteers and a few very helpful 5th graders.
“This day is worth all the work that goes into planning it because the kids love it,” Leavitt said. “It is one of the highlights of the year. I’ve been really excited getting ready for it because it is a great way to end the year. It’s a tradition.”
Kids rotated from station to station throughout the afternoon as the games were explained to them and the fun commenced.
One of the favoritest was the Invasion Water game. Teams lined up across from each other with a line of water-containing cups in the middle. On a signal, the teams race to the cups, with the winner taking possession of the cup and getting to dump it on their opponent.
Other activities included a giant slip ‘n’ slide; a firetruck provided by the Moapa fire station; sprinkler tag with foam noodle light sabers; a game called Hula Hut Knockdown, in which kids used squirt guns to try to knock down the opposing teams carefully engineered hula hoop structure; Steal the Water, a race to get to a cup of water first when your number was called; and a station that provided frozen treats to cool participants down.
“I really like water day,” said Perkins student Garren Staheli. “It’s better than sitting inside and doing math because you get wet.”
The day had a lot of support from the parents, teachers, and the administration. Parent and PTO president-elect Bren McClean said, “This is an awesome activity because it’s good to see the kids outside the classroom developing social skills. We really appreciate Mrs. Leavitt and Mrs. Staheli for organizing this and Principal Lee for supporting this tradition.”
Second grade teacher Cheryl Sobrio agreed, saying, “This is a great activity because the kids are definitely enjoying themselves, but they are also building camaraderie and developing good sportsmanship skills. Activities like this allow them to get outside of the classroom and outside of themselves and we love all the parent help we’ve had today to help it be a big success.”
Principal Holly Lee was thrilled with how much they were enjoying themselves. “The kids are having a great time and their enthusiasm is contagious,” Lee said. “It’s a great tradition to end the year.”
Of course, despite the fun of the day, the end of the year is always a little bittersweet. First grade teacher Susie Jones summed it up well, saying, “The kids are having a great time today and have been so much fun to watch. It is sad to see the year end, however. I had the greatest class with the greatest kids this year. I really will miss them.”
