Ghosts, Ghouls, & Goblins...OH MY! A Halloween Classroom Party Adventure!

Trying to keep calm during this HALLOWEEN MADNESS?! Yes, I know! The struggle is all too real! On top of being an educator and mentor, during the holiday season teachers feel the added pressure of party planner! Staying organized during this time has proven difficult for me in years past. This year I've decided to be pro-active! I always send a Halloween Party note home each year, asking for parent volunteers to help plan and organize our party as well as supply donations. I whipped up these parent remind slips for our Halloween party. Included in this FREEBIE are two parent notes -- one for parent volunteers and another for party donations. These slips will help me keep organized this year, as the flurry of party notes come in and my hair--piece by piece--begins to turn gray! :) HAHA! Only kidding! Check out my sample below!

Click here to download my Halloween Classroom Party Parent Reminders!

What does your district do in celebration of Halloween? Our school always has a parade, followed by a classroom party. The parade is GREAT! The kiddos get to show off their proud and spooky costumes! We end the day with a classroom party. Because I'm a HUGE fan of the Daily 5 in reading, I model my classroom parties after the rotations we use in my reading block. With the help of parent volunteers I split my classroom into thirds and have each group rotate through 3 stations: A snack station, a craft station, and finally, a game station!

The last few years I've had my kiddos MAKE a fun, themed Halloween snack. I found the idea here at this party and food blog...shout out to Party Pinching Blog! As soon as I found the idea I couldn't wait to try it out! For the snack you need:

• Ghost Peeps (1 for each student)
• Chocolate pudding cups (1 for each student)
• Package of Oreos, crumbled
• Pumpkin candies
• Spoons

BOOM! Here is the ghostly treat! A-dorable!

For my craft I gather a ton of Q-tips and cut about half of them in half. Then, I print off skeleton skulls. I have my kiddos build a skeleton of their very own using the Q-tips and runny glue. I pick fun Halloween colors for my students to glue their skeletons on (lime green, purple, orange, black). They have a BALL positioning their skeleton and bones in different positions!

Finally, my game station is a simple BINGO game, using candy corn as game pieces. I also have students guess the number of m&m's in a mason jar. I'm always looking for new, FUN games that are easy for kids and budget friendly. Comment with your Halloween Classroom Party ideas below! :) Can't wait to hear all about your successes.

WHOOO loves to read? Another seasonal bulletin board craft!

Just in time for our school's Fall Open House, I put together my CUTEST fall bulletin board yet! This owl-inspired craft was a FAN FAVORITE by my students! We had so much fun cutting and gluing our owls together. Not to mention, it was wonderful to read all of my students' favorite books so far this school year!

You can find this owl-inspired craft in my TPT store, but you'll also need a few other materials if you wish to recreate this craft. I stopped by Hobby Lobby--my go to store--to pick up a few of the supplies.

You will need:

• Brown paper lunch bags (1 for each student in your classroom)
• White cupcake liners (2 for each student in your classroom)
• Feathers...I picked up two packs and had more than enough
• Hot glue gun and sticks
• Fall colored card stock...Hobby Lobby had a GREAT deal on a fall colored paper pack!

Once you pick up your supplies you're ready to get crafting! I split up this craft into 3 days...we worked about 15 minutes at a time to put our owls together. I had my kiddos cut out all of the owl body templates. Then, I showed them step by step where to glue each body part on the brown paper bag (I also trimmed the ends of the bags so they would fit better on the card stock). The trickiest part for them was positioning the wings on the side of the body. I also modeled several times how to glue the black eyes inside the cupcake liners and the cupcake liners onto the brown paper bag.

Then, we wrote about our favorite books and illustrated the book covers using the writing template. Last, I had the kids glue their writing templates at the bottom of the colored cardstock. After my 3rd graders turned their colored cardstock and owls in, I was able to hot glue the owl bodies and add a couple of cute feathers on the top of the head. ADORABLE! I love how these little critters turned out. My students were so proud of their owls they asked if they could take them home that afternoon! Can't wait to think up my next winter-themed bulletin board craft! :)

   

I have a free version of my "My Favorite Book" template pictured in this fall craft. This download is available for those who also feel the need to tie any and all art projects back to the curriculum! Click here to download the freebie to use with ANY craft or project! :)