55. Ideas for your Halloween Class

Brittany 0:00

Hey there. Welcome to the teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Brittany and I'm here with Ellie.

Ellie 0:06

Hello.

Brittany 0:07

Way back in episode six, we chatted about celebrating holidays in the classroom in general. Today we're talking specifically about ways to celebrate Halloween in the middle school classroom. We've got 10 quick ideas for you based on your subject, time, and resources. Some may seem more doable than others, so let's jump right in with some different academic types of activities for Halloween.

Ellie 0:36

Let's start with a haunted house story writing. You can get students creative juices flowing by having them write their own haunted house stories. You can provide writing prompts or let them develop their own ideas. Once the stories are finished, students can share them with the class or create a class anthology of spooky tales. For a few years, I used to have these haunted house templates, and students would trace them on oak tag, which I've learned is not a term that everybody knows. So if you don't know what oak tag is, it's like construction paper, but it's a little thicker, and it's kind of like manila folder, color and texture. So Brittany, I think you said you call it something different, like

Brittany 1:21

tag board, yep,

Ellie 1:23

tag board, yeah. So I didn't know that everybody didn't say oak tag. But anyway, they would trace on that because it was a little sturdier than the construction paper. And then they would color their haunted houses, decorate them, color them any way they wanted. And then under them, we would staple their haunted house story that they wrote. So we ended up cutting the notebook paper down a bit so it would fit under the template, and then we make a bulletin board out of it, and you would staple all the haunted houses to the bulletin board, lift up the house, and then you could read the story underneath.

Brittany 1:57

Would they cut the haunted house out of the tag board too.

Ellie 2:02

Yes,

Brittany 2:02

okay, so you gotta have some sturdy scissors too.

Ellie 2:07

Not too bad. Regular scissors were okay,

Brittany 2:09

okay, cool, that sounds amazing and fun. Cool, spooky thing. Yeah, some years we would do a collaborative writing experience. And this can really be done any time of the year that you want to do it. But each student would get out a piece of notebook paper and they would write a four to six sentence introduction for a story related to the season. So you may have one kid writing about trick or treating, another about maybe a mound of spiders. One about Frankenstein, one about a child who can't figure out what their costume is going to be. So they each have their own vision for their story, and they've written the introduction. Then you have them begin passing the papers around, and you start giving them prompts or scenarios to happen in the story, and so each subsequent student adds one or two sentences to each piece of paper passed their way, so they have to quickly skim read what's already been written, listen to the prompt the teacher gives. Sometimes it's just like add a sentence, and sometimes it's maybe something like a bat flies into the scene. And so they have to incorporate this bat flying into the scene and add a sentence or two, and work that into the story, and keep it all moving towards a problem and a solution, and then they're great fun to share afterwards. And you know, a lot of times they don't quite make total sense,

Ellie 3:43

yeah, kind of like Mad Libs. A little bit. That sounds like fun, though, and then it helps you maybe, like, think a little more quickly and think more creatively, and practice those things as well.

Brittany 3:54

Yeah,

Ellie 3:55

that sounds like fun. You could also do a Halloween science experiment. You can engage students with Halloween themed experiments like making slime using borax and glue, creating a baking soda and vinegar volcano inside a pumpkin, maybe, or explore the properties of dry ice. These experiments are not only fun, but also educational. I found 30 Halloween based experiments over at what I have learned teaching.com and they look and sound like so much fun, so we'll be sure to link those up in the show notes.

Brittany 4:30

I love doing science experiments, but not teaching them. So

Ellie 4:35

no,

Brittany 4:37

that was not my forte. If you teach social studies, you could do a Halloween history lesson. Teach students about the history and cultural significance of Halloween. You can explore how Halloween is celebrated in different countries, the origins of various traditions like carving pumpkins and the historical figures associated with the holiday. This can be paired with a discussion or a research project. I actually have a print and digital history menu on the origins of Halloween that looks at the geography of Ireland and where carving pumpkins comes from. And it's not pumpkins, it's turnips.

Ellie 5:22

Oh,

Brittany 5:23

we'll link that in the show notes. If you're interested

Ellie 5:25

Very interested, please check that out. That's interesting. If you're teaching math, you can have students complete different Halloween related puzzles like cross number puzzles or logic puzzles. I do have a free Halloween themed logic puzzle in one of my blog posts, and I have a free cross number puzzle in another one, so we can link those in the show notes for you.

Brittany 5:49

I love doing those kind of puzzles, so I need to grab those. Another idea is you can also incorporate Halloween into your math lessons with themed math problems. You can create math problems that involve Halloween scenarios, such as counting candy or measuring ingredients for a witch's potion or solving riddles to unlock a haunted treasure chest. You can include these types of problems as a mixed math review and use them in Color by Number or task card activities, and we have a couple more of these that we'll link in the show notes as well.

Ellie 6:23

Awesome ideas, so maybe a little bit less academic is you could have an Halloween themed scavenger hunt around your school or your classroom. You can create a list of items or clues that students need to find, such as a certain type of spider decoration, or a hidden jack o lantern, or you could get a bag of 100 mini pumpkins and hide them all over the place. This is kind of a tik tok trend right now, and we have a link to 100 pumpkins for you. This activity encourages teamwork and problem solving skills, and it works on gross motor skills and coordination.

Brittany 7:01

How fun. I love it. I have 100 ducks right now to hide all over my house. Another Halloween themed task is to have students create Halloween themed art projects, such as drawing or painting spooky scenes, making paper mache masks, use a balloon and glue string to make pumpkins, or design your own haunted houses. This allows students to express their artistic abilities while celebrating the holiday. And you know, it just came to me. But another way to express artistic ability while celebrating the holiday, introduce students to blackout poetry. Teach your class about the method and purpose behind blackout poetry, and then give them some text examples, maybe use some spooky text like the Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, or The Tell Tale Heart, and then have them create their own blackout poetry using those texts.

Ellie 8:05

Ooh, that's an awesome idea. Last but not least, you can have the traditional costume parade and maybe a costume contest, if allowed by your school, you can encourage students to come dressed in their favorite costumes and hold a parade around the school. This activity not only allows students to express their creativity, but it also builds a sense of community. Brittany, did your schools allow you to have Halloween parades?

Brittany 8:32

My first school was very anti Halloween. It was considered a wicked holiday. But my very last school had a Halloween costume parade, and it was so much fun, both students and teachers could dress up, and we all paraded around the building, and parents could come and watch. I'm not sure who else was watching, since we were all in the parade, but it was fun. I dressed as Sully from monsters. Inc,

Ellie 8:59

Oh, fun.

Brittany 9:00

How about you?

Ellie 9:01

we did in elementary school the same kind of thing outside, and parents would come and watch, and then we would have a Halloween party afterward. In middle school, I think we paraded inside the school sometimes, so that you would go through, but then you would also stop and see the rest of the people go through, so that you could see other grade levels costumes and such. So that was fun. If you do want to do a costume contest, you can have different categories for the costume contest, like funniest, scariest, most creative and best group costume. Your school might have restrictions on the types of costumes students are allowed to wear. I know that we did as the years went by, those restrictions seem to increase, so you might need to adjust your categories accordingly if you're doing a contest.

Brittany 9:47

Yeah, we had your restrictions as well, but I love the group costume. That's awesome. So that's about it, 10 easy halloween activities to get a little holiday spirit into your classroom. Mm. What other activities do you and your students love for Halloween? Send us a message and let us know. We'd love to hear from you.

Ellie: 10:07

If you found this episode helpful, please screenshot it and share it with a friend. We'll talk to you later.

Brittany: 10:13

Bye.