Students enjoy outdoor contests

The rain cleared up just in time for the event, but the clouds stuck around providing ample shade and a comfortably cool environment for the Plains Elementary Track and Field day last Wednesday. A look of excitement could be seen on the faces of the coaches, grandparents parents, and most importantly, the children.

"I have two grandsons participating today. One of them is 8 and the other 9, one is a second grader and the other a third grader," said Chris Allen of Plains. The day started off with kindergarten through second grade competing in events including the 50 and 100 meter dash, parachute games, frisbee throw and toilet-tag. "The way that toilet tag works is when you get tagged you have to kneel down with one hand raised in the air and another player must come to you and hold your hand down for five seconds to flush you, and then you can stand up and start playing again," said Danielle Paquet, mother of first grader Damien Paquet. "We just had to come out for track and field day today. y son has been talking about toilet-tag all week," she added.

Many volunteers helped with the activities. "The seventh and eighth graders and the high school track team are helping us out today,"said Gena Ferlan, a Title 1 teacher who has been assisting with the event for 13 years. This was her first year to coordinate the event. Ferlan also mentioned that "if a child does not want to participate in an event then they don't have to, we just want to have fun today." And have fun, they did."My daughter is having a great time and we are all loving the Montana weather and being outdoors," said Mike Culpepper, father of kindergarten student Madison Culpepper.

The second half of the day was dedicated to kids in grades third through fifth competing in events such as the long jump, turbo javelin, flag-tag and the cone hole hame. "The way the cone hole hame works is that we have 16 cones laying flat inside of hula hoops. Kids toss bean bags and try to land them inside of the cone. The kids get three points for landing the bag inside the cone, two for touching the cone and one point for landing inside of the hula hoop," said Ricki Kulawniski, the mother of two children participating in Wednesday's activities. "The day is going great. It was well organized and the weather is holding out," she added with a smile."The day has gone really well and I'm very pleased. Kids track and field day is always held on the last wednesday of the school year, so make sure to mark it down on your calendar," Ferlan said as the day's activities came to a close.