Thread: Haunting my classroom...

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...I've never done it. I mean, I've decorated for Halloween parties (of COURSE-they know me ), but that was a one day/afternoon affair. This year, I want to make our classroom a daily adventure for the entire month of October. It will inspire writing prompts, crafts, spooky games and snacks, storytelling, etc.....

I don't want to go with just one theme-it may not appeal to all of the students. I want to go with a collage of sorts that would be appropriate for children in 1st, 2nd & 3rd grade...permission from our principal won't be a problem. I just want to start tossing around ideas with y'all...

Get a lot of those kid's friendly monster cutouts that are posiable. Kids love those. Another idea is have a theme for each day. Have one about ghost. Another about werewolves and so on. Don't get gory, else you'll have bible thumping parents talking to your supervisor. If a child is suppose to be out sick, say the boogie man got him. Just kidding, don't do that. Show them how to make tissue ghosts, paper bats, and other cool things.

You can have them make construction paper pumpkins or how playing pin the nose on the pumpkin. You can even have them help decarate the classroom by making black and orange paper chains to hang up. Dollar Tree has cute ghost garland you can hang up as well.

Sidnami has good ideas. You could have them write a scary story or poem about any Halloween related creature or costume.

Also, I recall for St. Patrick's day one year, my daughter's kindergarten teacher pretended that a leprechan had come into the classroom and pushed books off a table or messed up the teacher's desk. The kids had come back from recess or lunch and things had been changed - maybe you could move something around and ask if the class knows how it happened.

See if they have any theories - I know kids that age LOVE to make up stories. You wouldn't even have to spook them - they would do it all by themselves!

Monster cutouts are a great idea. We could have a debate/vs. battle much like the one Sidnami started in Horror Discussion down there...

A different theme every day would require a lot of effort and more time, but I'm totally willing to make the sacrifice for Halloween (and the cause of inspiration!), especially when I can recruit my own children to help me with the setup everyday after school.

We could definitely do the paper chains and construction paper pumpkins...then I could 'hide' them around the classroom to see who could find the most...I could bring in a wagon and we could do a hayride around the room to look for them...

Moving things around is a great idea as well. It would test their powers of observation. If they could even put the items back in original order, I would be greatly impressed!

We could do 'roasted' marshmallows over a 'campfire' one day and tell ghost stories...

I would start with some stories. My kids like the one "In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories" by Alvin Schwartz. Then see if they can be inspired enough to write their own. If they cannot write, then have a list of halloween things in a hat. They pull out a slip of paper, and if it says "skeleton" then they have to make up a quick story about a skeleton.

Don't know if your school has it "most do" Die cut out to make just about anything Cut out as many Halloween related items as you can think of. Get your bulletin board and decorate it but just the background. Have the kids add all the die cuts you did to the bulletin board. Making a scene for Halloween. Or have them make their own cut outs and put it on the board.

Here's one of my favorite writing/art activities that I do with my second graders. I read Cinderella but stop right before her pumpkin is turned into a coach. Then we brainstorm all the different types of transportation her pumpkin could turn into ---hot air balloon, motorcycle, speed boat, etc. They have to pick one and draw what it would look like. Then they write a story to go with it.

take the batteries out of the smoke detector then set up a ground fogger in the classroom as part of Fire Prevention week....teach them to low crawl

get some dolls and have the kids corpse them

build a coffin as part of a math lesson...how to use rulers and measuring tape

diversity training on how they should accept werewolves and vampires and zombies

health lessons on how you can transmit H1N! by bobbing for apples

painting with black light paints..

LOL!

You're really thinking outside the bun there, Scatterbrains. I like it! Who cares what my co-workers start whispering about me!

***I appreciate y'all helping me out! October will be more than a success with all the ideas I gather here!***