Halloween party ideas

1-2-3 Come Do Another "Room On The Broom" Activity With Me

Do you read “Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson?

It’s one of my students’ favorite Halloween stories.

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberWith that in mind, I thought I’d design an activity to go along with this cute tale.

“There’s Room On My Broom” is a quick, easy & super-fun booklet craftivity.

As always, there are black & white patterns for students, as well as colorful templates so that teachers can quickly and easily make a sample to share.

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberThere are 2 pattern options for the second page of the “booklet”.

Students can simply color the broom, or teachers can opt to make this a bit of a keepsake.

If you have some classroom help, then painting a child’s hand brown, and pressing it on the broom handle, turns out adorable. As a mom I love these types of craftivities that my children brought home. 

Another option is to have students pick a partner, then take turns tracing each others hand, on a piece of tan construction paper. Cut it out then glue it on the end of the broom handle.

You decide what’s best for your students & the time you have available, then run off a class-set of the patterns. Easy "Print & Go!"

There are 20 animals for children to choose from.

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberTo save paper & printing time, I designed the top of the worksheet as the “booklet” portion of the pattern, while the bottom part - - with animal choices, is easily snipped off.

Children color, cut & glue, whatever animals they want to ride on their broom.

Whenever I’m doing an activity, I always try to think of what else I might be able to include in the lesson, that will easily practice additional standards.

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, graphing activities for room on the broom, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberI thought other teachers would like that too, so besides the broom booklet, I’ve also included three graphing extensions. 

With a show of hands, teachers write the names on the graph of which animal from the story "Room on the Broom" they'd also like to have ride their broom. 

There's also a graph with 5 animals (lion, gorilla, unicorn, skunk & elephant), which asks "Which animal would you definitely NOT want on your broom?" Have a fun discussion of why not. 

greater than and less than activities, Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberMath skills, as well as group cooperation are practiced with a “Greater Than/ Less Than” worksheet, where students compare there “loaded brooms” with 4 other classmates' brooms.

For language arts, there’s also an ABC order worksheet.

The second part of our 2D shapes standard, involves  “spatial directions”; so I designed a "Where's Your Animal?" activity. 

spatial directions activity for room on the broom, Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberBefore students glue down their animals, they choose one.  Slowly read each direction from the worksheet. 

Students then place their animal above, below, beside, on etc. You can quickly & easily see who's having difficulty as you whole group assess this standard.

I've also included a witch manipulative you can use to give a quick spatial direction review, before you begin the assessment. If your students are like mine, they will really enjoy this extension.

sequencing & sorting by size, Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberAnother thing children can do before they glue their animals to their broom, is to sort & sequence them according to size (smallest to largest or the reverse), which allows you to practice this standard as well.

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberStudents could also use ordinal numbers to label their animal riders, and as you can see by my sample, I also practice patterning by having my students choose 2 crayon/marker colors to write their name with, and then fill in the letters of the title, showing an AB-AB color pattern.  

Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for OctoberCompleted projects make a cute bulletin board, so I’ve also included 2 posters to add some extra pizzazz to your display.

To see my other "Room on the Broom" resources, click the LINK.

free apple telling time cards to the hour half hourToday's featured FREEBIE is an apple-themed "Telling Time to the Hour & Half Hour"packet.

It's an easy-peasy "print & go" activity that you can use for a variety of center activities. 

I’ve included a tip list of ideas including the “Kaboom” game.

Digital, as well as analog time to the hour and half hour are practiced.

I've also included two assessment templates, plus a blank set to program with other times, as well as a black & white set of cards, plus a cover, so that your kiddos can make an “Itty Bitty” Telling Time booklet.Halloween activities, Halloween stories to read, Halloween Party Day ideas, Activities for Room on the Broom, broom craft, literacy center activities for October

Thanks for stopping by.

It's in the high 40s today, with a wicked wind; giving us a taste of winter that will be here all too soon.

Despite the chill, I will be going on my morning walk with my faithful pup Chloe.

There's a sprinkling of vibrant, fall colors splashed here and there, making a brisk nature hike especially interesting. 

Wishing you a fun-filled fall.  Hope you enjoy "making room" on your classroom brooms.

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” - Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Play Some Halloween Games With Me

Are you looking for a few quick and fun things to plug in on Halloween?  Something interesting for your kiddos, easy for you, and will still be educationally relevant?  Then I think you'll enjoy my Ready Set Ghost!  Halloween games packet. 

Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Everything's pretty simple with a lot of variety.  You can review and practice math, counting, letter recognition, end punctuation, capitalization, spelling, sequencing and more.

Here are a few things that I've included in the 28-page packet:

Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, There are all sorts of math dice games that will help review numbers, counting and addition: A very simple one is the coloring puzzles. 

Students choose one of three options; color their paper then cut on the lines making a 6-piece puzzle

They pick a partner and take turns rolling a single dice.  Whatever number they roll is the numbered puzzle piece that they glue on their grid. 

Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Older students can work on addition, with the Race to 100 game.  They too pick a partner and take turns rolling dice. 

Children add the 2 dice together and then X off that many boxes on their 100 chart.  Who will be the first one to get to 100?

Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Another 100 chart activity is a Halloween hidden picture worksheet Students can listen and follow the directions of the teacher, or read the numbers on their worksheet.  A successfully completed paper, will reveal a Jack-O-Lantern.

I mustache word scramble, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Have you made a list of all sorts of fall words for your word wall?  The "I mustache you to unscramble the words" worksheet, will help students practice them. 

Give children a minute or two to try and figure out as many as they can.  Did anyone get all 22?  There's an answer key to save you time. 

I've also included another mustachioed ghost worksheet, which asks students to add end punctuation to however many Halloween-themed sentences that you want them to work on.

how many words can you make with pumpkin, a mustache word scramble, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Students can work on more vocabulary skill building, by challenging them to use the letters in pumpkin, to see how many new words they can create.  I've included my list of 20.

spooky spin and spell, how many words can you make with pumpkin, mustache word scramble, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Younger students can spin and spell Happy Halloween! There are two spinners to choose from, a recording sheet and a colorful answer key poster to help little ones know where to put the letters.

Even preschool children can work on addition skills with the candy corn counting game. There are several math mat options, including one that the children color. 

I mustache word scramble, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Students can work independently or choose a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  Each child gets 13 pieces of candy corn.  (Pre count them and put in Dixie cups). 

Children can eat one, then use the rest as manipulatives to put on their candy corn counting mat, making groups of whatever numbers they roll.  I've also included a recording sheet (2 on a page) where students can "show" their work.

I mustache word scramble, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, If you want to practice letter recognition, play upper or lowercase "I Spy" .  You can reuse the worksheets as many as 5 times, depending on how you have students record their findings. (Trace the letter, trace the circle,  color, X-off, bingo dot etc.)

I mustache word scramble, HHalloween tic tac toe, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Finally, just for fun, I've included a Halloween version of "Trick" Tac Toe. There are six manipulatives children can choose to play with, plus a set of black line tokens they can color.

I mustache word scramble, HHalloween tic tac toe, Halloween games, halloween activities, halloween coloring pages, halloween puzzles, halloween word games, halloween dice games, 100 chart games, 100 chart activities, hidden pictures in a 100 grid, pumpkin activities, pumpkin games, end punctuation activities, capitalization activities, spelling games, spelling activities, halloween writing prompts, Click on the link to view/download the Halloween game packet: Ready, Set, Ghost!

Well that's it for today.  I hope you found something useful that will make Halloween less stressful for you, and more fun for your students. 

I'm off to change the light bulb on the front porch.  Since I'm ready for those sweet trick or treaters, I better have the lights on.  Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween.

"I love the childhood memories of Halloween, the excitement and energy that comes with it. Even the air feels different on Halloween; festive, fresh and crisp."  

1-2-3 Come Sing A Halloween Song and Play Some Halloween Games With Me

My Y5's really enjoyed singing all sorts of fun October songs with me.  With that in mind, I wanted to dream one up of my own.  

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsSince the Wheels On The Fire Truck  song, was such a popular download, I decided to make a Halloween version, entitled The Things In The Halloween House. 

It has the same tune as Wheels on the Bus, only these are things in a spooky house.

Here's one of the verses: :The Mouse in the house goes squeak, squeak, squeak--squeak, squeak, squeak--squeak, squeak, squeak. The mouse in the house goes squeak, squeak, squeak on Halloween.

I've made up motions to go with the song and included these directions in the packet. The song and matching games, are quick, easy and fun activities for your Halloween party day. 

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsThe packet includes 17 matching picture cards, as well as 15 word cards. 

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsSince most of the words are onomatopoeia words, you have a teachable moment to explain that to your students as well.  

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsI've included an onomatopoeia poster. Make extra sets of the picture and word cards and use them for games like Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?"  

You can also make a set to cut up as puzzles and use for an independent center.

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsThe packet also includes a "What's Missing?" Halloween circle game that my Y5's absolutely LOVED!

Gather your kiddos in a circle on the carpet. Place the cards face down, in 3 rows of 4 in the center of the circle.  Flip up the top 4 cards.  Point to each of the 4 cards and say its name. 

Have children repeat the name of the cards with you.  i.e., “Owl, cat, mouse, spider."  Hold a piece of tag board (a size that will cover all of the cards) so that it just hovers over the top.  

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/09/what-the-things-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes-and-rub-them-are-called/Have students close their eyes tight.  Carefully reach under and flip a card over, so that it is now face down.  Say “Ready!” and have students open their eyes.  Remove the tag board, so that students can see the flipped up cards.  You ask: "Which one is missing?"

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsChildren call out an answer.  You can give the first child who called out the correct answer a sticker, or simply continue to play. 

Play continues, as you make things a bit more difficult, by flipping up another card for each round of play. 

Use fewer cards for younger children.   Click on the link to view/download the Haunted House Song and Games packet.

haunted house activities, haunted house activities for kids, spooky house activities, onomatopoeia activities, halloween activities, halloween games, ideas for kids halloween party, halloween school party activities, halloween games for kids, halloween songs, halloween songs for kidsThanks for visiting today.  I hope you can stop by tomorrow for a few more FREEBIES.  I'm off to go shopping for some treats for Halloween

We only get about a dozen trick or treaters, so I make up extra special Halloween bags for the neighborhood kiddos.  Wishing you a day filled with sweet moments.

 "If you were another person, would you like to be a friend of yours?" -Unknown