Jefferson Harvest Festival Delights Kindergarteners

Jefferson Primary School was built on land that once sat on the edge of about 1,000 acres of farmland. Large farms dotted the landscape across the town until the postwar boom led to the rise of the modern suburban community that now exists.

That earlier era was celebrated in a special way last Friday when Jefferson kindergarten students participated in a fun-filled day at the school. “Our kindergarten harvest festival was a great success,” Jefferson Principal Valerie Capitulo-Saide said.

The kindergarteners enjoyed a break from their usual classroom education, picking and decorating their own pumpkins, hearing the story Stone Soup as told Jefferson librarian Ellen Blanchard, and later eating the soup, racing to build a scarecrow, going on a hayride around the grounds, drinking apple cider and eating tasty pretzels.

The annual outdoor activity is always a hit with the youngsters and their parents and ties in nicely with classroom lessons focusing on Huntington’s agricultural traditions and early American practices and rituals.

Teachers and parents were all smiles as the kindergarteners excitedly walked through a bright orange field. After selecting one of the pumpkins as their own, the youngsters utilized their artistic talents to decorate and personalize it. The results were quite impressive.

Jefferson music teacher Jessica Castaneda led the kindergarteners in song after they climbed into a district buildings and grounds department truck filled with hay for a spin around the grounds.

Whether it was the school’s famous scarecrow race, decorating pumpkins going on a hayride or sipping apple cider, it was a fun day and one that will long be remembered by the Jefferson youngsters.