Shh…don’t tell anyone, because I would never want to sound like a party pooper, but I do have to quietly admit to you that holiday parties have never been a favorite time in the classroom for me. I don’t know, 30 kids wired up on excitement, sugar, and costumes…what am I missing?

So, with that in mind, I’ve always tried to sneak in learning activities that have the disguise of holiday celebrations! When I was a classroom teacher my holiday parties strongly resembled “center activities” where students moved from one activity to the next. Kids know how to do this normal classroom routine and this kept craziness to a minimum.

Holiday activities can still meet content and technology standards yet be disguised as holiday activities. Really, many of the best school activities that we can remember from our childhood are probably activities that we enjoyed foremost, and if we reflected really hard, we’d find learning behind the scenes.

Keeping the multiple intelligences in mind, we can have students engaged in activities that meet those intelligences while celebrating the “second most popular holiday” Halloween. We can focus on internet research and information gathering while learning about the history of Halloween. After all, actually reading and gathering information to share with others is an important skill. Using visual and spacial intelligence students can create an imaginary map of Transylvania and include a required list of objects and areas along with a key, compass rose, and title.

Using interpersonal intelligence the children can write group stories. Each child writes a beginning of a story and after five minutes the computers all shift to the right (or the children shift if you are using desktop machines.) After four or five shifts the stories return to the original child so an ending can be added. Share with the class.

Designing recipes for Halloween potions and then changing the amount of ingredients to serve 15, 30, or 5 guests will inspire the logical/mathematical minds to engage!

How about using the verbal/linguistic aspects of the minds to create creative epitaphs. So often we see Halloween displays in local yards with interesting gravestones. Write some for yourself and have your students write some for themselves and their family members.

Bodily/Kinesthetic learners will enjoy a rousing game of charades based upon October or Halloween careers. Who will act out the mortician? How about the scarecrow? Can you be an apple picker?

Some radio stations have been known to begin playing Christmas carols immediately following Halloween. Where are all the Halloween carols? The musical intelligence within us will inspire Halloween carols. Review some online and then create your own.

I have done many of these activities in the computer lab; especially the history lesson, the map drawing (using KidPix), and the epitaph creation (using KidPix). I’ve used laptops with groups to do the interpersonal story writing.

Hopefully some of these activities will help you continue to make kids think and expand their minds while also celebrating the holiday season.

So, sneak in learning when you can under whatever disguise is required!

With more and more Halloween celebrations taking place in the classroom, at home parties, or at community events, here are some cross-curricular Halloween activities for you to enjoy.

1. Read a Halloween poem or song and find rhyming words, similes, metaphors, nouns, verbs, onomatopoeia, and so on.

2. Find Halloween-related words in the dictionary by using guide words. Divide them into syllables, write the accent mark, tell the part of speech, give the definition, add suffixes…whatever skills you want to review.

3. Research the origin of Halloween and its symbols. Write a report and include a bibliography.

4. Brainstorm a list of Halloween words and create your own crossword, kriss-kross, or word search puzzles.

5. Write a Halloween story or a short play. Perform the play and tape it!

6. Tape the class singing Halloween songs and play them on October 31.

7. See how many 3-letter words you can make out of ‘Halloween.’

8. Cut out Halloween pictures from different print media to make cards or a collage.

9. Give everyone some colored M&M’s and have children graph them. Alternately, have children classify the candy they bring to school and graph the different kinds. Possible categories are chocolatey, nutty, soft, and hard.

10. Look through newspaper ads and see what you would buy if you had $20. If your children are old enough, have them calculate the tax for your area.

11. Review following directions, measurement, health, and safety by making Halloween cupcakes, a cake, or cookies. Use Halloween-related cutters, food coloring for frosting, and small candies as decorations. Of course, adults should supervise children.

12. Use a pumpkin for the following activities:

a. Cut out the stem, take out the seeds, and carve out the pulp (refrigerate it). Have children draw a face for a jack-o-lantern and cut it out.

b. Roast the pumpkin seeds and have store-bought seeds on hand. Let children eat both and compare the taste, texture, and color.

c. Heat the pulp until it is soft and use it to make your own pumpkin pie! (NOTE: One recipe usually makes three regular pies.) Make sure to save pieces for the principal and others in your school. Tell children to remember the taste so they can compare it to a store-bought pumpkin pie.

d. Make sure to take pictures of each step. Have children write a caption for each one and make a book.

13. Foster multi-cultural awareness by having candies from different countries.

I hope these ideas are useful and inspire your own creative thinking. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

And remember…Reading is FUNdamental!