CANDY WRAPPERS

Turn those candy wrappers into a learning activity. Have children safe their wrappers and then do some of these "yummy" activities.

Counting - Count the wrappers. Tally how many in the whole class.

Sets - Make sets with the wrappers.

       

Sorting - Sort the wrappers. What’s the sorting rule? Can they regroup them?

Graphing - Use the wrappers to graph their favorite candy bar.

Nutrition - Look at the food value on each wrapper. How many calories? How much sugar? Rank the candies by calories.

Vocabulary - Find descriptive words on the wrappers. Make a list of the words and use them in sentences.

Writing - Fold 2 sheets of paper in half and staple to make a book. Children write “I like…” at the top of each page and glue a candy wrapper underneath. This is a book every child in your room can read! Older children could write descriptive sentences about each candy.

Alphabet Letters - Use the wrappers to make a class book called “The Sweet ABC’s.” Write alphabet letters on 26 sheets of paper. Children glue their wrappers to the appropriate letter. Bind pages together to make a book.
Hint! If you don’t have a wrapper for each letter, let children suggest “sweet” words for the page.




Money - Glue candy wrappers to a file folder. Write a coin value by each wrapper. Children count out the appropriate amount and place it on the wrapper.
Hint! For young children, price the candies from 1 cent to 10 cents and give them pennies. Make the amounts higher for older students.

Art - Let children use wrappers to make a collage.

Finally, take advantage of this “teachable moment” by discussing why sugar is not good for their bodies. What happens if you eat too much sugar? Make a list of healthy snacks that would be better food choices.

TIPS AND TREATS FOR HALLOWEEN WEEK

NEEWOLLAH????

You can do this, yes you can! As the excitement increases for Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards) go with the flow with one of these activities.

Pumpkin Face
Play "Pumpkin Face" which is similar to Wheel of Fortune. Think of a vocabulary word or sight word. Put a blank on the board for each letter in the word. Children take turns calling out letters. If they guess correctly put the letter on the line. If their letter is not in the word begin drawing a pumpkin and then adding features. If letters are not in the word make a "bone pile" at the bottom of the board.

Real and Pretend
Do a T-chart of things that are real and pretend.




Halloween Safety
Let them work in small groups and make posters about Halloween safety.


Making Words
How many words can you make out of HALLOWEEN?

Partner Writing
Divide the children into partners and challenge them to write a ghost story together or draw a spooky picture together.


Charades
Play a game of pantomime where children act out Halloween symbols and events as their friends try and guess.


Pass the Pumpkin
Play "pass the pumpkin." (You can use a real little pumpkin for this or just pretend with a ball.) Children stand or sit in a circle and pass the pumpkin around as the music plays. When the music stops the one holding the pumpkin has to read a flash card, answer a math problem, recall information from a book, and so forth.

PATALINA MATALINA

Here's another new video to share this week.  It's Katalina's friend!

https://bit.ly/drJPatalinaYT

HALLOWEEN WEEK

Yes, the person who drew this cartoon must have been an elementary teacher!  Here are some tips to help you get through the week.

Whisper Wednesday

This Wednesday make a sign for your door that says “Whisper Wednesday.” Greet the children at the door as you whisper, “Welcome to whisper Wednesday. All day long we are going to use our whisper voices. Take yours out of your pocket and put it on.”

Do the morning routine, songs, reading group, and all other activities with a quiet voice.

Hint! Ask children to help you by putting their index finger on their lips to remind friends to remember to whisper.

Here are a few other relaxation ideas to try today or any other crazy day!

Vacation
Tell your class to give their mouth and their eyes a “vacation” by closing their eyes and mouths. Next, ask them to practice breathing through their noses. You’ll be amazed at how this brings down their energy level and helps them focus.

“Eye” Exercise
Demonstrate how to hold your two index fingers a few inches from your eyes on either side of your head. Look at the right index finger with both eyes and then look at the left index finger.

Tighten~Relax 

Tighten up your body as tight as you can and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Then relax and let it all go. Repeat several times.
*Starting with the toes, call out one body part at a time for children to squeeze and then relax. For example, toes, feet, knees, legs, hips, back, fingers, arms, shoulders, necks, faces, and then a whole body SQUEEZE!

Rag Dolls and Soldiers 

When the teacher calls out “rag dolls” everyone flops over like a rag doll. When the teacher says, “soldiers,” everyone stands up tall and stiff. Continue calling out “rag dolls” and “soldiers” faster and faster.

Criss Cross Applesauce

Do this on each other’s backs:
Cross cross, (Make an “x” on back.)
Applesauce, (Wiggle fingers down back.)
Spiders crawling up your back. (Crawl fingers up back.)
Warm breeze. (Gently blow on neck.)
Gentle squeeze. (Hug from behind.)
Now you’ve got the shiveries! (Tickle fingers down back.)
Hint! Have children stand in a circle and face right. That way they will each have a back to write on.

How about two new ideas to help children sit down and line up?

Sit Down Song (Alissa DeKemper)
Howdy Neighbor,
What’d ya say
It’s gonna be a beautiful day!
So clap your hands
And stomp your feet,
Turn around and take a seat!

Line Up Chant (Alissa DeKemper)
My hands upon my head I place,
On my shoulders near my face,
On my knees,
And at my side,
Then behind me they will hide.
(Lower your voice as you say it!)

WE CAN'T DO HALLOWEEN!

I know that some of you are not allowed to dress up on Halloween. I was looking through old blog posts with vocabulary words and I found this idea that Ginny McLay shared when I was in New Hampshire several years ago. It dawned on me that it would be a fun activity on October 31st - or any day.

Vocabulary Word Costume!
Ginny McLay and was inspired by her love of vocabulary to help her kids love learning new words with a costume party.

After focusing on words (synonyms, antonyms, nouns, verbs, and adjectives) invite children to think of a word that they LOVE, ADORE, AND ADMIRE and create a costume for their word.

Easy steps to make a costume!
1. Think of a few words that are really interesting.
2. Choose a word that you can make into a costume.
3. The word and definition must be somewhere on the costume.
4. Practice the word and definition
My word is _____. It means:_________.

Ideas for costumes:
1. Write the word and definition on a headband.
2. Write the word and definition on a piece of paper and make a necklace out of it.
3. Write the word and definition on a t-shirt and decorate with fabric paint.
4. Write the word and definition on a brown paper bag…cut it like a vest!
5. Use a costume you already have at home and think of a great word. Write the word and definition on a sash.


Can you tell? "Mysterious" and "celebrate"?

Great reads for vocabulary include:
Miss Alaineus – A Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier
Fancy Nancy Books
Max’s Words by Kate Banks

NURSERY RHYME PARTY
A substitute for Halloween for younger children might be to have a nursery rhyme party. Children could all dress up like their favorite nursery rhyme character and then take turns reciting their rhyme. I'll share some snacks with you tomorrow.

PUMPKIN TALES

NOTE!  Here's the video where you can watch me tell these stories:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JetOeIrEnAU&t=52s

I must have told this story thousands of times over the past 40 years. The wonderful thing is that it's "old" to me, but most of the teachers and children have never heard it before. You'll need to practice a few times before doing it for your class, but I guarantee you'll hear, "Do it again! Do it again!"

Pumpkin House Cut and Tell Story
Materials: orange paper, scissors
Directions: Place the orange paper and scissors in your lap. As you tell the story cut out the different parts with the scissors. At end of the story, the children will be delighted with the pumpkin house!
Hint! You can also tear out the paper with your fingers.

Once there was a little old lady who lived in a funny orange house near name of your school. Her house was shaped like half a circle with the chimney at the bottom.

This little lady had a cat named child’s name in your room. This cat had a long, curved tail, so the old lady had a special door cut just for the cat’s tail.

The little lady always wore a pointed hat. She had a special door built for herself, too, so her hat would not fall off every time she went in and out the door.

The little lady had two pet birds. Their names were child’sname and child’s name. She had a window cut just for them so they could fly in and out and in and out.

It was getting close to Halloween, so all the children inteacher’s name classroom went to her house and knocked on her door. The little lady came to the door and said, “Close your eyes.” SURPRISE! It’s a jack-o-lantern!

Here's a link so you can download the directions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljYUVocVhRRTFHVGs/view?usp=sharing


Pumpkin Man Tell and Draw Story
Materials: large sheet of paper, marker 

Directions: Explain that you will need everyone to help you tell this story. Demonstrate the movements below. When you say the words in the story, then the children should make the motions.


“Knock” – pretend to knock on a door

“Rock” – move body back and forth

“Spin” – twirl hands around each other

“Come In” – make motion with hand


Draw the body parts on the paper as you come to them in the story.

Once there was a little old lady who would just sit all day and rock and spin and wait for somebody to come in.
 One day as she sat there rocking and spinning she heard a knock at the door.


“Come in,” she called. In came two big, black boots. (Draw boots on the board.) “I can’t talk to you big, black boots,” said the little old lady. So she just sat there and she'd rock and spin until she heard a knock at the door.


“Come in,” she called. And in came two bony legs. (Draw two skinny legs coming out of the boots.) “I can’t talk to two bony legs,” said the little old lady.
 So she just sat there and rock and spin until she heard a knock at the door.



“Come in,” she called. And in came a funny body. (Draw a pear shaped body on top of the legs.) “I can’t talk to a funny body,” said the little old lady.
 So she just sat there and rock and spin until she heard a knock at the door.


“Come in,” she called. And in came two wiggly arms. (Draw wiggly arms coming off the body.) “I can’t talk to wiggly arms,” said the little old lady.
 So she just sat there and rock and spin until she heard a knock at the door.


“Come in,” she called. And in came two big hands. (Draw hands at the end of the arms.) “I can’t talk to two big hands,” said the little old lady.
 So she just sat there and rock and spin until she heard a knock at the door.


“Come in,” she called. And in came a big pumpkin head. (Draw a pumpkin head on the figure.) “Well, I can talk to a pumpkin man,” said the little old lady. And she did! 


Adaptations: End by singing “Do You Know the Pumpkin Man?” to the tune of “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”

WITCH WICHES

My students loved to say this rhyme and giggle when the witch tore her britches! (I don't why that was so silly to them, but it was.)

3 Little Witches
(Tune: “Ten Little Indians”)
One little, two little, three little witches. (Hold up 3 fingers.)
Flying over haystacks, flying over ditches. (Fly fingers in the air.)
Slid down the moon and tore their britches! (Touch pants and then cover eyes.)
Hi, ho, Halloween’s here! (Clap hands.)

Choose three children to be witches and act out the song. Make brooms by rolling up several sheets of newspaper. Tape. Cut down 8” from one end and fluff.

Stirring Our Brew
Stirring and stirring and stirring our brew… (Pretend to stir.)
Wooooooo! Woooooo! (Cup hands by mouth.)
Stirring and stirring and stirring our brew… (Stir.)
Wooooooo! Wooooo! (Cup hands by mouth.)
Tip-toe. Tip-toe. BOO! (Pretend to tip-toe.)


Witch’s Stew
How about a little witch’s stew for snack. You will need lunch sacks, 1 large bowl (or plastic witch's pot), Cheerios, pretzel sticks, fish crackers, raisins, M & M’s, peanuts, chocolate chips, and ice cream cones.

1.Write “frog eyes” on one sack and fill with Cheerios.
2 Write “salted bones” on the second sack and fill with pretzel sticks.
3.Write “dead fish” on the third sack and fill with fish crackers.
4.Write “worm pieces” on the fourth sack and fill with raisins.
5.Write “lizard gizzards” on the fifth sack and fill with M&M’s.
6.Write "bat toes" and fill with chocolate chips.

Place the large bowl on the floor and make up a story about collecting all the items for your witch’s stew. One at a time let children come up and dump the contents in the bowl. Stir with a spoon as you sing the above song. Serve in ice cream cones.
Hint! You can substitute miniature marshmallows, gluten free snacks, or other foods for any of the ingredients.




Ghost Busters
Cut ghost shapes out of white paper. Write letters, numerals, words, or whatever skill you want to reinforce on the ghosts. Staple ghosts to a bulletin board and let the children identify the information as they swat the ghosts with a fly swatter.
*You can make a similar game from a file folder. Glue a hand to a craft stick and use to swat the ghosts.


Scary Things
Halloween is a good time to talk about things that are real and things that are pretend. It’s also helpful to talk about things that scare us. I always talk about things that scare me, and that usually encourages the children to open up and talk about things that scare them. Everybody’s afraid of something, and that’s O.K. Make a class book called “Scary Things” where each child draws their fears and dictates or writes a story about them.

WELCOME TO MY PUMPKIN PATCH

I might be an "old lady," but I'm still a kid at heart when it comes to Halloween. This was always a happy time of year for me and for my children.

Once I Had a Pumpkin
(Tune: “Lassie and Laddie”)
Oh, once I had a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin.
(Hands over head like a pumpkin.)
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.
With no eyes and no nose and no mouth and no teeth.
(Point to facial features.)
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.
So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern.
(Draw a jack-o-lantern in the air.)
So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern.
With big eyes and a big nose and big mouth and big teeth.
(Draw facial features in the air.)
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big funny face.

*Draw a jack-o-lantern on the board as you sing the song.


Pumpkin Paint
Mix equal parts of flour and salt. Stir in orange tempera paint. (Obviously, if it’s powdered, you will need to add some water, too.) Add a spoonful of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the paint and stir. Children can paint a pumpkin, pumpkin pie, or whatever they want. Their painting will be textured and smell good, too!

Pumpkin Seeds
Before carving your pumpkin, have the children estimate how many seeds they think it will contain and write down their estimations. Have the children separate the seeds and count them. Who guessed more? Who guessed less? Who guessed the closest amount? Cook some of the seeds by rinsing them and frying them in a little butter and salt. Save some of the seeds to plant in the spring.


Paper Plate Pumpkins
Make pumpkins out of paper plates. Choose five children to hold the pumpkins as you say the rhyme. You could also cut pumpkins out of felt and use on a flannel board.




Pumpkin Play Dough
Make homemade play dough and add red and yellow food coloring to make it orange. Let the children knead in pumpkin pie spices. They’ll have fun making pumpkins, pies, and other characters.

Hint! Add pumpkin pie spice to make aroma play dough.

Math Games
Make games where children seriate pumpkins from large to small or put pumpkins in numerical order.

AVOCADO AND AUTUMN 


http://bit.ly/drjeanHalloween
AVOCADO Halloween!

Form the pumpkin
Carve the pumpkin
Jack-o lantern, funny jack o lantern

Form the mummy
Wrap the mummy
Walk like a mummy

Form the skeleton 
Dance the skeleton 
Shake your bones

Form the brew
Cook the brew
Stir the brew - oooooo

Form the cave
Go in the cave
Bats and spiders

Put on your costume
Go trick or treat
Eat the candy eat all the candy

Form the avocado
Peel the avocado
Guacoween – happy Halloween!




http://bit.ly/drjeanAutumn
AUTUMN AVOCADO

Form the tree 
Falling leaves
Rake the leaves

Form the pumpkin
Cook the pumpkin
Pumpkin pie – make pumpkin pie

Form the scarecrow
Dress the scarecrow
Dance the scarecrow

Form the apple
Dip the apples – make candy apples
Eat the apple 

Form the football
Throw the football
Catch the football

Form the nut
Crack the nut
Squirrels eat the nuts

Form the avocado
Peel the avocado
Guacamole - eat the guacamole and have an awesome autumn!

BATS AND SPIDERS - OH, MY!

You can take any seasonal objects like erasers, small toys, or natural items (leaves) and turn them into learning materials. Here are some ways to use bat rings and spider rings this month for hands-on math.

Note! I took my scissors and snipped off the ring part to make them easier to manipulate. I also removed the skeleton rings because I thought some parents might object. (I just try to keep everybody happy!)

Sort
Ask children to sort the rings. What was their sorting rule? Can they sort them another way?

Sets
Draw spider webs and label with numerals or number words. Children make appropriate sets.

*Use bat rings in spooky trees. Let children roll dice and make the amount.

Guess and Check
Put different amounts of rings in bags or cups. Write letters on the cups (A, B, C...). Children count and then record their answers.

Addition and Subtraction
Children can work out math problems with the spider rings.

Fill the Cup (I learned this from Carolyn Kisloski.)
Two or more children can play this game. You’ll need cups, plastic toys, and dice. Children take turns rolling a die and then counting out that many objects and placing them in their cup. The first one to fill their cup is the winner. To extend the game, continue playing to see who can empty their cup first.

*Use two dice so the children can practice addition.


Estimate
Fill a plastic jar with plastic toys. Children estimate how many and then write it on a sheet of paper with their name. At the end of the day count the objects. Who guessed more? Less? Who was closest?


Patterns
Can children continue a pattern with the toy rings? Can they create an AB, or ABB pattern?

Position
Give each child a spider ring. Can you put it above your head? Can you put it beside you? Can you put it between your knees? Etc.


Bats in a Cave
Make a cave from a disposable bowl by turning it upside down and cutting an arch as shown. Display a certain number of bats. Put some in the cave and ask children, "How many do you see? How many do you think are in the cave?"

WATCH ME DEMONSTRATE THESE ACTIVITIES ON THIS VIDEO!

Click to view

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOb3stJj_mE

HALLOWEEN FINGER PLAYS

This is one of my all time favorite finger plays and it never goes out of style!

Jack O’ Happy
This is Jack O’ Happy. (Hands circle head and smile.)
This is Jack O’ Sad. (Hands circle head and frown.)
This is Jack O’ Spooky. (Open mouth and eyes wide.)
And this is Jack O’ Mad. (Make a mean face.)
This is Jack in pieces small. (Hold up palms.)
But in a pie he’s best of all. (Circle arms in front as if holding a pie.)

You can download a book for the children to read and color. Or, better yet, download the version with just the words so the children can make their own illustrations.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljWmZCbk1sWk1vSWs/view?usp=sharing

Five Little Pumpkins
(Tune: “Five Little Ducks”)
Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate. (Hold up 5 fingers.)
The first one said, “Oh, my it’s getting late.” (Hold up thumb.)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air.” (Hold up index finger.)
The third one said, “But I don’t care.” (Hold up middle finger.)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.” (Hold up ring finger.)
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun.” (Hold up pinky.)
Ooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light. (Blow through hands, then clap.)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! (Roll hands behind back.)

*My students loved to hold paper pumpkins and act out this rhyme.

Here's a play dough mat that Carolyn Kisloski made  where children can make their own pumpkins for the rhyme.

*What? You never heard of a blue pumpkin? It's all I had, but I kind of like it, don't you?


The Five Days of Halloween (Tune: “Twelve Days of Christmas”)

On the first day of Halloween my monster gave to me, (Hold up 1 finger.)
A bat in an old, dead tree. (Flap arms like a bat.)

On the second day …2 creepy spiders (Wiggle fingers like spiders.)
On the third day…3 howling cats (Stroke whiskers.)
On the fourth day…4 silly scarecrows (Jiggle like a scarecrow.)
On the fifth day…5 jack-o-lanterns (Hands over head like a
jack-o-lantern.)

*Choose one child to be the bat, 2 to be spiders, 3 to be cats, etc. to act out the song.


http://bit.ly/drjeanMyMonster

BOOTIFUL JOKES

Jokes and riddles are a delightful way to develop children’s sense of humor as well as language standards (Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases…).

*You might want to choose one joke each day and write it on the board. Invite the children to read it with you. Ask children who "get it" to “think out loud” and explain their interpretation to classmates. This will enable children who “don’t get it” to scaffold to a higher level.

*Satisfy writing standards by asking children to write and illustrate jokes and riddles. Peek-a-boo flaps and lunch bags work well for this. Put their jokes together to make a class book.

*Encourage each child to learn a joke that they can share with their classmates. (Speaking and Listening Standards) Let children decorate craft sticks with their names and put them in a “Joke Can.” When you have a few extra minutes, choose a stick and let that child tell a joke to the class.

Note! “Bat” you’ll “scream” for some of these Halloween jokes! However, you can use riddles all year long. Non-holiday jokes are plentiful on the internet.

What kind of bats fly around the school at night?
AlphaBATS!

What do ghosts put on their cereal in the morning?
“Boo” berries and “boo”nanas.

What do you get when you take the inside out of a hotdog?
A “hollow” weenie.

What are the birds giving out for Halloween this year?
“Tweets!”

Why was the baby ghost sad?
He wanted his “mummy.”

What did the boy ghost say to the girl ghost?
You sure are “boo” tiful!

How do you make a witch itch?
You take away the W.

What pants do ghosts wear?
BOO jeans.

What do ghosts serve for dessert?
I scream!

What did one jack-o-lantern say to the other jack-o-lantern
on their way to the party?
Let’s get “glowing”!

Why do witches fly around on broomsticks?
Because their vacuum cleaners are too heavy.

What did the little ghost say to his mom?
“I’ve got a boo boo!”

How do you make a skeleton laugh?
Tickle it’s funny bone.

Why did the vampires cancel their baseball game?
Because they couldn’t find their bats.

Where do baby ghosts go during the day?
DaySCARE centers.

Who did Frankenstein take to the party?
His ghoul friend.

How do you mend a broken jack-o-lantern?
With a pumpkin patch.

What’s a ghost’s favorite party game?
Hide and go shriek!

What do baby ghosts wear on their feet?
BOOties.



Knock, knock!
Who’s there? Canoe.
Canoe, who?
Canoe tell us some knock knock jokes today, too?

Knock knock! 

Who's there?
Orange
.
Orange who?

Orange you glad it's Halloween?

Knock Knock!
Who’s there?
Olive.
Olive who?
Olive Halloween!

Knock knock!
Who's there?

Boo!

Boo who? 

I didn’t mean to make you cry.

Knock knock! 

Who's there?
Frank. 

Frank who?
Frankenstein!

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Wanda.
Wanda who?
Wanda go for a ride on my broomstick?

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Phillip.
Phillip who?
Phillip my bag with candy.

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Ben.
Ben who?
Ben waiting for Halloween all year.

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Who.
Who who?
Are you an owl?

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Lettuce.
Lettuce who?
Lettuce have some candy, please.

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Justin
Justin who?
Just in time for Halloween!

Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad you visited my blog today?

CANDY WRAPPER CAPERS

Give your kids HOMEWORK for tonight. Ask them to save their candy wrappers and bring them to school over the next few days. Who wouldn't want to learn with the candy wrapper caper below?

SAVE THOSE CANDY WRAPPERS!

Counting - Count the wrappers. Tally how many in the whole class.

Sets - Make sets with the wrappers.

Sorting - Sort the wrappers. What’s the sorting rule? Can they regroup them?

Graphing - Use the wrappers to graph their favorite candy bar.

Nutrition - Look at the food value on each wrapper. How many calories? How much sugar? Rank the candies by calories.

Vocabulary - Find descriptive words on the wrappers. Make a list of the words and use them in sentences.

Writing - Fold 2 sheets of paper in half and staple to make a book. Children write “I like…” at the top of each page and glue a candy wrapper underneath. This is a book every child in your room can read! Older children could write descriptive sentences about each candy.




Alphabet Letters - Use the wrappers to make a class book called “The Sweet ABC’s.” Write alphabet letters on 26 sheets of paper. Children glue their wrappers to the appropriate letter. Bind pages together to make a book.
Hint! If you don’t have a wrapper for each letter, let children suggest “sweet” words for the page.

Money - Glue candy wrappers to a file folder. Write a coin value by each wrapper. Children count out the appropriate amount and place it on the wrapper.
Hint! For young children, price the candies from 1 cent to 10 cents and give them pennies. Make the amounts higher for older students.

Art - Let children use wrappers to make a collage.

Finally, take advantage of this “teachable moment” by discussing why sugar is not good for their bodies. What happens if you eat too much sugar? Make a list of healthy snacks that would be better food choices.