Saturday, October 29, 2016

Halloween in the Classroom

Let's be real.  Sometimes we just need to take a break!  Especially around Halloween.  Right now, I have report cards, Halloween, early release days to get report cards done, videos to watch (because it's not good enough that I've watched the same blood-borne pathogen video EVERY SINGLE YEAR for the past twelve years).  I needed a break and my students needed a break.
I started making this pack to do just that.  I wanted to keep things educational, but I wanted to release my students from the grip of rigor for just a day (or two).

I started the day with a question.  We graphed first thing in the morning as we unpacked our bags.

Then we graphed our results.  This was easy peasy for my little math geniuses.  One friend said "Wow!  That was so easy!  But fun at the same time!"

Station one was making a Frankenstein and writing on opinion piece.

Frank was a favorite for sure!


Station 2 was list making and creating a pretend Halloween bag.

I let them use the stapler!  By themselves!
One friend carried the thing around with her like a purse the remainder of the day...


This station was a bat craft and writing about their favorite thing to do on Halloween.

Now keep in mind my students are BEAUTIFUL writers.  But I was NOT going to be a drill sergeant on this day.



I didn't think anyone would care for station four.  But some friends ended up taking a break and reading for a minute or two.  I plan on going into Michael's RIGHT at the beginning of the fall season to get some BIG pumpkins next year.  I went last week and they were COMPLETELY OUT!  Ummm...fall is just getting started!


Witches Brew would have been my favorite station BUT it requires food.  At my school, any time you have food it's considered a party.  So the brew will be served on Halloween and I'll post that later.

I used to love making webs as a kid.  So I thought I would give my students a couple of lines to complete their own webs.
After they made their webs they wrote a spooky story...

And read their spooky story in the Haunted House!
I displayed a picture of a haunted house on my Smartboard.  I would have liked to play some Halloween music but I couldn't find my stankin CD!  Anyway, they would take their story and share it in the haunted house to a friend.  I WOULD, eventually, like to get an actual miniature haunted house for students to sit in.  But then my husband started to complain about the fact of storing it and so I've dropped that for now.

Station 8 was a hit as well.  For some reason second graders like cats...


I hid a secret message for station 9.  
They had to decode the secret message...

Read it and illustrate their understanding.

Station 10 was another opinion and using those tiny little hands to make a spider.

I had a couple parent volunteers in this day so they were able to go around and help trace hands.  My students can decompose and add three digit numbers while regrouping but they can't seem to trace their hands!

Once again, writing was VERY RELAXED this day.  
So that is a look at Halloween in the Classroom!  It takes work to assemble all the pieces but the look on those little faces is priceless.

Have a great weekend, friends!




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