Boo! Did I scare you? 😉 Halloween can be a tricky time in the classroom. And no, I’m not talking about the extreme increase of “sugar” as the main ingredient during snack time… although that CAN be a problem of its own. But today I’m talking about how we celebrate the holidays in our classrooms while still being careful to include everyone.
When I started teaching 10 years ago {yikes!} we did Halloween Parties. Those have turned into “Fall Parties” now in order to include everyone. It sometimes means revamping old ideas to take the Halloween factor out, as well as rounding up new ones. I personally focus on pumpkins, spiders, and monsters in October.
I’ve already shared my pumpkin unit ideas recently, so we’ll stick to spiders and monsters this time around. =)
Here’s a fun spider idea for you– make webs on your student chairs! My students literally became spiders and had to read nonfiction spider texts to learn how spiders weave their webs. Then they wrote from a spider’s perspective about the activity. We do this in conjunction with my spider thematic unit, in case you need more ideas to round out your spider ideas. Here are some of my favorite spider books to go with it:
For monsters, we held adoptions. Students adopt a monster and then write an instruction manual with things you need to know about their new monster baby when it’s your turn to babysit. They do this in the form of a monster shape book. I have four different monster patterns for my students to pick from. Each pattern comes with a face, writing lines, and blank options for creating a book. They absolutely love it and it’s so funny to see the unique personalities they craft for their monsters. It definitely stretches their creativity! Here are the books I use in our unit:
Of course Pinterest is full of ideas too– here’s the link to my fall ideas board over on Pinterest. And here are a few more of my favorite free ideas to help you get through the Halloween season without doing Halloween.
Christi, this is such a beautifully designed blog. Great post for Halloween, or UnHalloween
Thanks, Cathe
Great ideas, Christi! I can't decide which I love best — making spider webs under the chair or preparing for monster "adoption." I bet the kids loved them both. 🙂
~ Candice from Innovate. Motivate. Educate.