Halloween: A Kindergarten Teacher's Survival Kit

Actually, Halloween fell on a Tuesday this year.  Witches no better, haha ....

And, actually, I spent a lot of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday pondering whether or not I would miss the hoopla surrounding Halloween when I'm retired next year.  I mean, there are aspects of Halloween that I really like!  I LIKE dressing up in a costume...

And I like some of the kids' costumes, as well, especially the sweet and creative ones....

There are two Halloween stories that I share every year with my class.  One uses Lorna Balian's book, Humbug Witch, still available on Amazon. 

Twenty years ago, I made cut-outs of the witch's costume and a drawing of the little girl who is just a 'humbug' witch. I hold the book on my lap and use the cut-outs to "tell" the story.  Here are photos of my humbug witch for any of my crafty blog readers...

The other story that I tell is about a witch who forgets it's Halloween and has no TREATS for the children but a wonderful TRICK.  You can watch me retell this story here.

Needless-to-say, the kids' reactions to these stories are really precious.  Maybe I'll find a venue to continue telling these stories.  When our own children were in preschool, I used to visit their classrooms to share the Humbug Witch and "Tricky Witch." Hmmm....Possibilities!

I know classroom parties can be chaotic.  My solution has been to run the parties as centers: a snack table, an active game, and a couple of quiet games or quick crafts. 

The craft I like best is Punch Pumpkins.  I staple a copy of the punch pumpkin to a sheet of orange construction paper. I put an area rug on a table, lay the punch paper pumpkins on the area rug, and the kids use sharp pencils to poke holes through the dots.  When they are finished, I tear off the photocopied punch pumpkin and they take home the orange construction paper pumpkin.  If they hang these in their windows, the light from inside will shine through and Trick-or-Treaters will see their pumpkins shining in the window.  Here is the punch pumpkin: 

                                  And you can grab your own copy by clicking here.

There is no denying the truth of the above quote: kids are tired from the festivities plus it's no fun for teachers to watch the glucose-cycle in action. But, here are a few tricks-of-the-trade: the day after Halloween should have a familiar routine, lessons should include easy, quiet activities like repetitive counting, tracing, coloring, and listening to soothing stories.

So, will I miss Halloween next year?  Who-oo knows?!!!