Halloween Sorting

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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: Sorting

Materials: Halloween erasers (see resources at bottom of page)

Directions:  Have students sort the erasers into groups.

Halloween Patterning

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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: Patterning

Materials: Halloween erasers (see resources at bottom of page)

Directions:  Have students use the erasers to make patterns

You can order cheap Halloween mini-erasers from Oriental Trading.   Have the students choose two different erasers and make a Halloween pattern on their strip of paper.   Providing a narrow strip of paper instead of a whole sheet will help your students be more successful at patterning.

 
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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: Patterning

Materials: Halloween stamps from Oriental Trading, patterning grid

Directions:  Have students use the stamps to make patterns

 
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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: 1:1 correspondence, number sense

Materials: one ice cube tray per student, foam die, Halloween manipulatives (from Scholastic)

Directions:  Give each student in the small group an ice cube tray.  Place the Halloween manipulatives in the center of the table in a bowl or other container so they are easily accessible to all students.  Each student takes a turn rolling the die and putting the corresponding number of Halloween manipulatives in their ice cube tray. 

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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: 1:1 correspondence, number sense

Materials: 6 Halloween cups, number stickers, pumpkin seeds

Directions:  Have students place the correct number of pumpkin seeds into the cups.

 
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Setting: Small Group, Math Centers

Objective: 1:1 correspondence, number sense

Materials: 5 Halloween plates, Sharpie, Halloween erasers (see resources at bottom of page)

Directions:  Write one number on each Halloween plate (1-5) with the Sharpie.  Have students place the correct number of erasers on each plate. 

Setting: Small Group, ABC/Literacy Centers

Objective: Visually discriminate letter shapes, matching

Materials: laminating film, scissors, orange construction paper, pen, magnetic letters

Directions:  Fold each sheet of construction paper in half and cut it in the shape of a pumpkin.  Use a pen to trace magnetic letters onto each pumpkin mat.  Laminate the pumpkin mats and give one to each child in your small group.  Have students match magnetic letters to the correct outlines.

 
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Setting: Small Group, ABC/Literacy Centers

Objective: Differentiate between letters and numbers

Materials: 20 Pumpkin die-cuts, ABC and number stickers, 2 hula hoops

Directions:  Affix one ABC sticker to 10 pumpkin die-cuts and one number sticker to 10 pumpkin die-cuts.  Place the two hula hoops on the floor next to each other.  Mix the pumpkin die-cuts up and place them face down on the floor near the hula hoops.  Designate one hula hoop for letters and one for numbers.  Have students sit in a circle around the hula hoops and take turns turning over a pumpkin and placing it in the center of the correct hula hoop.  

 
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Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers

Objective: Alphabet Recognition

Materials: pumpkin cut-outs, ABC stickers OR Sharpie marker, paper clips, recording sheet, orange Do-A-Dot marker, fishing poles

Directions:  Laminate your pumpkin cut-outs and write one letter on each pumpkin using the Sharpie marker or place one letter sticker on each leaf.   Place paper clips on each pumpkin and put pumpkins in a tub or container of some sort in the middle of the table.  Students use their fishing poles to "catch" the pumpkins and stamp the matching letters on the recording sheet with their orange Do-A-Dot marker.  The recording sheet has a large pumpkin outline on it with all the letters of the alphabet written inside.  Students use an orange Do-A-Dot marker to mark the letters they have caught. 

Fishing poles:  12 inch dowels, string, hot glue gun, round magnets

Tie the string to the end of the dowel and use the hot glue gun to secure it to the dowel.   Next, hot glue the round magnet to the end of the string.

 
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Setting: Small or Large Group

Objective: Oral Language development, name recognition

Materials: one pumpkin die-cut per child, Sharpie marker

Directions:   Write the each student's name on a pumpkin with a Sharpie.  Sit the students in a circle in your large group area and place all the pumpkins in the middle of the circle on the floor face down.  Have each student take a turn coming to the middle and turning over a pumpkin and reading the name.  The entire class says the following rhyme:

"Who took the pumpkin from the pumpkin patch?

________ (insert name of student whose name appears on the pumpkin die-cut) took the pumpkin from the pumpkin patch."

Student whose name appears on the pumpkin says: "Who me?"

Teacher and class= "Yes, you"

Student= "Couldn't be"

Teacher and class= "Then who?"

Repeat the activity by having the student whose name was on the pumpkin turn another one over.  Continue until all students have had a turn.

I get many requests for help with classroom parties.   My philosophy for classroom parties is "K.I.S.S." (Keep It Simple Silly) and "less is more".   Our Halloween party goes like this:

Read Aloud: Teacher reads Halloween story or stories

Sing-a-long:  We sing our favorite Halloween and fall songs, I let the students pick which songs to sing. 

Game: We play the "Boo!" game- see description below

Activity:  *OPTIONAL* This could be any type of special project that you would not normally do.  We do not always do an activity for our holiday parties, it depends on the time and money available.  When we do have special holiday activities I like to use Oriental Trading sticker stories.  We use these for each holiday and turn them into a math activity by writing sentences at the bottom such as:

 "______ has 5 white ghosts"  "_____ has 4 orange pumpkins" etc.

Mock Trick-orTreat:  Each student brings one bag of candy.  All students sit in a circle holding their trick or treat bag (you can make them from lunch bags or get free ones from restaurants like CiCi's Pizza).  Each student gets a turn to pass out his or her candy to the class. 

Snack:  We have a special holiday snack and juice boxes.  I do not allow cups or any other liquid beverages as they always spill.  If parents want to bring treats I encourage cookies instead of cakes or cupcakes as they are less messy. 

Many teachers like to give their students something special for each holiday.   Below are some ideas for Halloween gifts for students:

Scholastic Books:  Each year Scholastic offers an inexpensive book (usually only 15 bonus points each) in the October catalog.  I usually have enough bonus points from my first order of the year to get each student a book.  If I have any students who do not celebrate Halloween I order a non-holiday themed book for the same amount.

Holiday Pencils:  Halloween pencils are a big hit with my kids.  I tell them my pencil gifts are special and to be used only for homework so they don't cause a distraction in the classroom.

Halloween Ziploc bags:  I buy Halloween sandwich size Ziploc bags after Halloween on clearance each year.  You can fill them with goodies for the students  such as the pencil, if the book is small enough it will fit inside too, and some non-candy treats.

Trick or Treats: I like the new non-candy treats you can find at the stores these days.  You can find individual Halloween Teddy Grahams, Ritz PB crackers, animal crackers, pretzels, and mini granola bars. 

Pumpkin Kisses:   Place Hershey Hugs and Kisses in a baggie and attach this poem:

No scary ghosts
Nor ugly witches
Or creepy little bugs
Just a little surprise of
Halloween wishes and lots
of Kisses and Hugs 

 
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Setting: Large or Small Group

Objective: Letter Identification

Materials: 27 ghost die-cuts, cauldron or other trick or treat type container, Sharpie or ABC stickers, Halloween music

Directions: This game is played just like "Hot Potato".  Program 26 ghost die-cuts each with one letter A-Z using the Sharpie or ABC stickers, you can choose upper or lowercase depending on the levels of your students.  Write the word "Boo!" on one die-cut and place all die-cuts in the cauldron.  When you play the Halloween music the children pass the cauldron around the circle.  When the music stops the person who is holding the cauldron  gets to take out a ghost and identify the letter.  If a student pulls out the "Boo!" card all the children get to say "Boo!" very loudly and put their cards back in the cauldron.  Keep playing until all children have had a turn.