Green Means Go, Red Also Means Go!
By: Jason P.
On December 22, 2017, Banting and Best P. S. had their second Red Green Assembly! This was an opportunity to get together as a whole school and cheer as teachers and students participated in various holiday themed activities! This was certainly a day that everyone enjoyed.
Let’s rewind to about two weeks prior to this event. A few members of our Junior Journalists team gave announcements, building excitement and anticipation for the assembly. We also had a secret message contest on our school website that many students participated in to get a chance to be featured in the Red Green Assembly.
Mr. Mackinnon, our principal, even promised to get his hair dyed red and green at the assembly to get festive! Whichever team won in the most events also got the opportunity to decorate the Mr. Mackinnon Tree! As the big day approached, all students were buzzing about the assembly in classrooms and in the halls. We could really feel the enthusiasm and energy!
On the day of the Red Green Assembly, all students and teachers were gathered in the gym at 9:45 wearing clothing or pyjamas that matched their team colour, as it was also Pajama and Teddy Bear Day. Now that was school spirit! As it was also our Kindness and Caring Assembly, Mrs. Hadjis, our music teacher, presented a few slideshows to talk about this character trait.
We handed out certificates to the students who demonstrated kindness and caring throughout the month of December. We then sang three Christmas carols, ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Feliz Navidad’ led by the teachers, and finally ‘Mistletoe’, which was led by some Grade 8 students. Everyone in the school sang and there surely were many amazing vocalists in our school!
Then it was time for our Red Green Assembly! It started off with Mr. Ly and Mr. Minor talking about how much effort was put into this event, and wished that everyone would have fun cheering for their own teams. After a series of thunderous team cheers, the first contest began.
The first competition was the Jello Eating Contest. Teachers and students from each team had to try to finish a bowl of jello as fast as possible, but there was a twist: the person who was eating couldn’t use their hands and had to be fed! When the signal went off, everyone was shoving their faces into the bowls, trying to demolish the jelly. The audience was screaming at the top of their lungs, encouraging the competitors. After whipping out the mighty straw, Mr. Minor and Mr. Dimakas finished the fastest, allowing Red Team to get a lead.
While some Junior Journalists members cleaned off the stage, the Gift Wrapping Contest began. Both teams were set up at two table with bows, wrapping paper, and various unique shaped objects to wrap. These items included soccer balls, hula hoops and rakes! The teachers started bundling the objects vigorously, and as fast as possible. When the time was up, all the presents were interestingly wrapped, some with rips and rough edges, and some completely covered in bows! The Green Team won this round.
The third contest was the Holiday Bean Bag Toss! Each team had a student that threw bean bags in the air while the teachers tried to catch them using a big sack. The students and teachers both used their accurate aim and expertise to work together. The audience were cheering on the contestants, encouraging them to try their best! The Green Team was more swift and accurate, allowing them to win in this event!
It was now time for Mr. Mackinnon to get his hair dyed. One student from each team went onto the stage, where Mr. Mackinnon was waiting quietly. The students uncapped the coloured hair spray, and went crazy with the hair, covering every tiny hair! Mr. Mackinnon was looking very happy for Christmas!
The next contest was the Lip Sync Battle. The representative teachers of each team choreographed dances to christmas carols and practiced for this performance for multiple days! First up was the teachers of the Green team that danced to songs such as “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. They all wore red reindeer noses and gave a fun performance with moves that were in sync! The Red Team was up next. Mr. Minor was up there, confident and wearing his beautiful pink wig! The Red Team had a very interesting concept, and there was a part where Mr. Minor went up to kiss Santa! It was so humorous! The Red Team slightly had the better performance, and won in this event.
After the singing and dancing, it was time for the Egg Roulette Contest. Both teams had 4 teachers each wearing plastic bags over their heads and bodies, and a student who was the egg selector. The objective of this game was to crack random eggs that were either hard-boiled or raw on the teachers’ heads, and whichever teams picked two raw eggs first lost the game. There were four raw eggs and eight hard-boiled. The egg selectors were very cautious at picking the eggs, so the first six were all hard-boiled! The Green Team got ‘egged’ twice, allowing the Red Team to win.
It was getting close to the end of the assembly, and it was time to decorate the Mr. Mackinnon Tree! The Red Team won again this year, winning in three out of the five events! Each teacher from the Red Team selected a student to decorate Mr. Mackinnon, who was on the stage, ready to be styled! The decorative materials ranged from shiny glass ornaments, ribbon, garlands, to stickers, and little plastic gems.
After the decorators were completed with their masterpiece, Mr. Mackinnon was covered from head to toe in Christmas tree decorations, ranging from gold, to green and red. What a sight! Mr. Mackinnon got his picture taken, and it came to the end of the assembly. Mr. Ly and Mr. Minor thanked everyone for coming to this event, and talked about how much fun we had that day. Mr. Ly is saying that the Green Team will get their first win next year! But who knows? The Red Team may get their third win in a row! Look forward to next year’s Red Green Assembly!