Halloween Activities {Pumpkin Plants, Catapults, and Ghost Rockets}

Oh, Halloween... how I really don't like you...  Halloween on a Monday this year just about killed me.  It is already my least favorite holiday, but I try to still have fun in the classroom.  I've not into the whole scary thing, never have been, so in class I more focus on spiders, bats, owls, and pumpkins. 

early stages of sprouts

 We had a pumpkin that we were gifted from the school's Fall Festival, so this year I decided to cut the top off and dump in some dirt.  That's it - I didn't stir or anything, just stuck it outside on our portable's porch, and the kids took turns dumping their water bottles in it to water.  Within 10 days it sported a bunch of sprouts emerging from the top and a colorful array of mold on the outside.  We transferred it to a planter (since the bottom was rotting), and now it's a full on plant, and you can't tell it was once a pumpkin... but the kids know and tell all our visitors.  

In class for Halloween, I wanted to focus on STEM activities, and since I was having parent help I decided to go big.  I found an idea to make Ghost Rockets and quickly ordered the film canisters from Amazon (thank you Amazon Prime).  It was super easy - the kids added a little bit of corn starch to the canister, then filled it with a little bit of water, stirred it with a popsicle stick, added an Alkaseltzer tab, put the lid on, and then stepped back.  We did this station outside, and those canisters flew as high as our two story buildings.  There was good discussions about the pressure inside the canisters.  

An inside station was building catapults to launch different materials.  We watched a youtube video (there are plenty to choose from) to make a simple catapult.  At home for prep, my husband took our heavy kitchen scissors and cut notches in large popsicle sticks, then at school the kids took 8 small sticks and stacked them.  They took rubber bands to secure the large sticks with the small ones.  I added some measurement activities to the station, and taped some long tape measures to the ground so they could record their distances.  They tested out the pumpkin candies, giant fluff balls, candy corns, etc.  It was such a fun activity, and the kids were able to bring their own catapult home as a souvenir.  The kids were able to handle creating it themselves with some adult guidance, will definitely do this again.  

The last station was actually a game.  I couldn't find the eye ball ping pong balls, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun.  Each kid had their own spoon to place the handle in their mouth, and they needed to transfer as many of the ping pong balls as possible from bowl to bowl.  It became a competition.  When they were done, they had a chance to complete their spider web art projects.  It was a headache free day, and was fun too.  :)  

Monster Week: Story, Writing, and Math

Last week revolved around monsters.

In our mentor text last week we were reading I Need My Monster. 

From there we worked on adjectives and dialogue. The kids brainstormed words to create their own monster using a brainstorm sheet from Copeland's Got Class in 3rd.  They then made a rough draft narrative that included those 10 adjectives and did a rainbow edit to check their work.

They wrote up a final draft which they glued on one side of a piece of construction paper, and then drew their monster using those same adjectives on the back.

We also reviewed math facts using these mystery monster pictures from Jean Vanderford.

The kids enjoyed it!  Hope this helps you.  :)  

Five for Friday - Owl Pellets, Spiderwebs, and the Pumpkin Patch

5 random things about my week...  Let's see...

Today we tackled Owl Pellets in class - well, really outside...  

The weather was marvelous.  Same type of set up as last year - each group had a plate (I chose foam since adults were spraying water on them), a bone bowl, gloves, tweezers (Big Lots has a 2 pack for $1), toothpick, and this year I brought wooden skewers from home.  I put down butcher paper, and the kids wanted to sit boys vs. girls.  When they were completely done, they got a snack size plastic bag and separated out the bone bowl with their partner.  Then they headed inside to fill in Jivey's Owl Pellet Dissection worksheet.  It was so cool and gross at the same time!   

 This week we had our parent art docent come in and present a lesson about art in nature.  She had a powerpoint that she shared with the class with different pictures of spiderwebs.  Some had snow on them, some had rain, they all had different designs.  Then she walked them through creating their own webs.  It totally ties into reading Charlotte's Web and Halloween...  

The kids each got a square of card stock, and she had them take a ruler to draw perpendicular lines with a sharpie.  Then she had them go through the intersecting point and draw 2 additional lines.  The next step had them drawing "valleys" starting at the outside of the square making connectors between the main straight lines of the web.  From there, once the web was complete, she had them take 2 colors and create an AB pattern going around.  The last step was optional, but if they wanted to they could draw a small spider on the web and add googley eyes.  The kids loved the project!    

Number 3 is easy... my preschooler had his first official field trip to the pumpkin patch today.  Since I was up to my eyeballs in owl pellets my husband got to chaperone.  

Lucky him!  His shirt is so cute - he actually made it in class with his teacher.  They tie dyed the candy corn shirts specifically for this field trip.  S is so proud of it!  

What else?  Today was a minimum day to work on report cards and I actually FINISHED!  We always have the afternoon to get it done, but I never actually get it done on time during the day... it usually takes me into the next week.  Somehow miraculously I did this year.  Yay!  It being the end of the trimester - I will completely enjoy this random weekend with no grading!!  :)  In other classroom news - I totally fell today.  Tripped over a backpack during prep and went down.  OUCH!  Got a beautiful bruise that has formed...  

Last up I wanted to give a shout out to Fifth in the Middle.  That girl is now celebrating 1,000 followers over on TPT.  Make sure to go enter!   

Well, I'm linking all of this up to Doodlebugs.  I hope you had a great week too!  

What's Planned for Halloween?

Halloween... the day that kids look forward to all year, and  the day that teachers dread?!?
Just kidding.
Sort of.
Anyhow, here's my plan for tomorrow.   I know I shared the pins the past week at different times...so if you click the pictures they will go to when I last posted it, which will then take you to Pinterest and to TPT, etc...
8:20-9:00 Morning work (Daily Math), correct homework, decorate paper candy corns, and share our Spooky Stories they have written the past week.
9:00 Halloween Parade with the rest of the school
9:30-9:55 Share more Spooky Stories and have them create a mini book with different Halloween idioms.  Yes, I know - I haven't done that yet.  If not enough time this will bump to the afternoon when I have classroom rotations.
9:55 - 10:10 Recess
10:10-12:10 Rotations with the rest of the grade level
*Read aloud and create a monster by tearing construction paper into the different shapes.  As the teacher will read the story, the kids design how they imagine the monster to be.
*Math fact multiplication bingo - pumpkin style
*Halloween Boggle
12:10-12:50 Lunch
12:50-1:30 Read Aloud and Silent Reading (Yes, I'm making them read like a normal day when I'm sure they will be hyped up.)
1:30-2:10 Party Time Rotations - about 10 minutes per station
Station #1: Create Oobleck (looks like slime) - My station 2 cups corn starch + 1 cup water + food coloring I mix it in a big bowl, then use a tablespoon to put it into sandwich bags to which the kids choose their color slime.
Station #2 and #3 *Multiple meanings pumpkin games and candy corn is/are, was/were game. 
Station #4 *Witch hats made from cookies, orange frosting, and hershey kisses - they create and eat. 2:10-2:40 *Treat time - apple slices with caramel dip, drinks, and chips  (Someone also brought in a Costco sized box of small doughnuts today - not asked for, but will be appreciated.)
*Scooby Doo movie (cartoon version of course)

2:40-2:50 Clean up, clean up, clean up Fill out agendas Pass out my glow stick gifts Homeward Bound
2:50-3:05 Yard duty after school
3:05 I sink into my chair and do not move for a while.

My Halloween Treat for the Kiddos

It feels great to get something accomplished.  
I found these Halloween treats over at Ladybug's Teacher Files.  Kristen had them for a free download - which I truly appreciate.  I was a little nervous about using so much color, but there are 5 per page.  Her picture is much better than mine - just saw the marker spots on my kitchen table in the background.
Michael's (craft store) had packs of 15 glow bracelets for only a dollar, which when I was able to use my teacher ID discount became even cheaper.  I ended up grabbing up 8 packages since I didn't know how many casualties I would have.  Only snapped 3 of them as I was sticking the connectors to the bottom of the sticks before I taped them on.  I'm pretty proud of myself.   I love a good deal.  
I did exactly what Kristen did and added 3 bracelets for each little note.   Isn't the note adorable?!?  
"A bit of light for Halloween night!"
I'm sure my school kiddos will love their little treat!  My own boys are just glad that I have an extra whole package for them to use on Halloween night and for the sword fights they use them for in the dark laundry room.  
Hope you have a good day!

My Halloween Pins

Somehow Halloween has been sneaking up on me - I don't know how it came so fast, but I'm not ready for it.  I haven't had a chance to do all the fun stuff for October yet - there have been too many must do's instead to accomplish.  
So, I've been busy researching FREE things to do in the next week that combines the fun of Halloween and the needed review of being a 4th grader this time of the year.
If you see something you like, just click the link and it will take you to the real pin on Pinterest, which from there will take you to TPT to download.  I want to say THANK YOU to those creative people out there that have offered these freebies for the rest of us.  There are many extensions of these activities that are available to download for a small price.  Well worth it!


Halloween Idioms and Phrases I'm thinking of playing scoot with these phrases - putting one card on each desk and then having them move from desk to desk writing what they think it means.  


Who Am I? There are a bunch of characters on these cards that could be fun to play another round of scoot - put one on each desk and have the kids move around to write a sentence about each one - using those preposition words.  


Halloween Verbs I always have them create a spooky story using their spelling words - so thinking of sticking these verbs up to give them some ideas.  


Paper Bag Spooky Tree For Halloween my grade level is talking about doing rotations - so we will each get a different class for 30 minutes doing the same activity over and over... I'm thinking of doing this craft with the kids.  It is something they can easily do in the time allotment, and they don't really even need to glue the colored leaves on - it's cool without it.  


Pumpkin Craftivities This freebie is a cute pumpkin that could be used for an art project, though I was thinking of using it to create our spelling word/word knowledge sorts in them.


Multiple Meaning Pumpkins These are perfect for an ELA center - I laminated these and they are ready to go.


Going Batty I see this more as a primary piece for writing, though I'm thinking of having my kids create the bats and then write an acrostic poem. 
 
Halloween Costume Character Traits I love how this is set up - so easy to use and tons of fun paying attention to details.


RIP Words We have been talking about the importance of expanding our vocabulary, especially as we kick off the 2nd trimester.  I've been wondering if I should create a little graveyard....
I hope these help you!