On Friday, October 28, the Little Lancers went trick-or-treating through the halls of Linganore High School.

The Little Lancers are a part of the Linganore preschool program operating in conjunction with the Child Development class.

Child Development  is a class where students learn the growth of a child from birth to adolescence.  Teacher Kate Lane and instructional assistant Meghan Ballatt lead the students to create age-appropriate lessons in the preschool located in the Linganore High School building.

Lane teaches the high school students what is age-appropriate in language arts, math, phonics, reading, and counting with purpose. The high school students also read books to the kids talking to the children about their favorite character, if they liked the book, what happened in the book, pictures, words and identifying the pages. 

Additionally, social engagement is a skill taught in the preschool.

 “Since the pandemic the Little Lancers … have been isolated for two years of their little short lives, [and] all of the students are four,” Lane said.

Attending preschool allows the children to be taught manners and how to work with their peers for social and emotional engagement. 

This Friday the Little Lancers were able to dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating within the larger school building. The kids were split up into groups led by students in the Child Development class and went trick or treating on the first floor during first period and the second floor during second period.

The candy they received was then sent home to the parents so they could go through and decide what their kids could eat. 

“It’s Linganore tradition to dress up for Halloween, so we have been trick-or-treating for 12 years now,” said Lane.

Since the preschool runs from Tuesday to Friday and Halloween falls on a Monday this year, the Little Lancers dressed up the Friday prior to the holiday to continue the tradition.

Lane thinks it is nice to have the children participate in the practice. 

“It’s good for the other classes in the building to see the Little Lancers [as] some students don’t know Child Development is a class…[and] don’t know [there are] actually kids in the class,” said Lane. 

The high school students in the class are also thrilled to continue the Halloween tradition. 

“I’m really excited to take the Little Lancers trick-or-treating,”  said Linganore sophomore Cara Morgan. “It’s just going to be so much fun to walk around [and] get some candy … we’re just gonna have a really good time,” said Morgan.