Halloween Fun

This week we have what we call non-pupil week. Basically, it’s a full week without students designated to staff development, training, and time to get caught up on some things and prepare for what’s left of our first semester. This week couldn’t have come soon enough because I am worn out from all of the International Day and Halloween festivities!

All last week, we did Halloween themed activities including reading and writing scary stories, spooky word problems in math, and even an ICT lesson where the students created a flyer advertising the Halloween carnival on Friday. It was a ton of fun, but I’m glad it’s over.

Halloween Word Problems-

We did a review of dividing decimals with a Halloween twist. You can steal the worksheet here.

Trick or Treat Bags-

Keeping with the holiday tradition, our school sets up a route around campus for all the students to go trick or treating. Each class has to make their own little baskets or bags for collecting candy. Here’s what we did:

1.      Start with a standard A4 thick paper. We used white because we wanted to decorate them for Halloween, but you can use any color you want.

2.      Turn the paper horizontally and fold each side toward the middle making sure there’s a little overlap. Glue or tape your seam.

3.      Turn it vertically and fold the bottom up about 5cm.

4.      Open the bottom section and fold down to make 2 triangles.

5.      Fold in the tops and bottoms of the triangle making sure to overlap a little for gluing or taping.

 

6.      Punch two holes in the top for your ribbon handles.

7.      Choose your ribbon and decorations.

8.      Viola! You have one super cute trick or treat bag. Or small, personalized gift bag.

DIY Ring Toss-

 Part of my job every year is to come up with a carnival game for Halloween and International Day. Last year, I remember the games being a little too easy for my students because they’re the oldest, so this year I wanted to try something a bit more challenging. I used to love going to the carnival or state fair when it was in town and all those fun games that were nearly impossible to win, but still fun as hell to play. That was my inspiration for this year’s booth- The Wicked Ring Toss.

All you need are some empty beer bottles and small plastic rings and you’re in business. Here’s a picture of mine all finished:

 

·         WARNING: This game is A LOT harder than it looks. Not recommended for kindergartenJ

Paper Pumpkin Mosaics-

Every Thursday, I run an after-school Art Club with students from Grade 2-4 and every Thursday I get headaches. I haven’t figured out if these two things are related, but I think it’s a safe assumption. Anyway, the club is only 45 minutes so I wanted a project that they could actually finish. Behold, paper pumpkin mosaics. It’s not my best art lesson, but they seemed to enjoy themselves and hey, we finished.

 

Scary Short Stories-

As promised, here are a couple of the finished narrative pieces from last week.

Scary Story 1

Scary Story 2

FIS Halloween Pics-

Here's a few pictures from Friday's festivities... Hope you all have a great Halloween!

Scary short stories

Halloween has always been one of my absolute favorite holidays. As a kid, I usually had my costume picked out by my birthday in the summer and couldn’t wait to go trick or treating with my friends. The amount of loot we made out with every year still blows my mind… I mean, who really needs 86lbs of candy? It’s insane. I’m pretty sure that’s when my sugar addition and subsequent tooth decay started, but that’s not what this post is all about.

Beyond the costumes and candy, Halloween is the official kickoff of the holiday season. It’s a time for haunted houses and ghost stories. A time for FUN. And that’s what this week is all about.

In language arts, we’ve been working on narrative writing so I decided to shake things up with some good ol’ scary stories. I’m not a huge fan of horror in general, but the students love them and they’re great for teaching elements of good narrative writing.

We started the lesson with a couple of spooky tales from this AWESOME website. I read the first one aloud in our reading area while we pretended to be around a campfire at night. Then we brainstormed together on the white board about what elements make up a scary story. Here’s a look at what we came up with:

Excuse my messy board

 

Here's the PDF if you want to download it.

Later, I turned them loose to start drafting their own haunted stories that they will share later in the week with the class.

Because I’m trying to find new and interesting ways for my students to present their work with 6 + 1 traits, I am going to have them voice record their stories and use editing software to add creepy sound effects to the background. I’m really excited to see the finished products. I promise to post more on these when I have them completed. Until then, enjoy some Halloween candy for meL