Halloween Fun!

Last week was Red Ribbon Week, full of fun dress-up days, a DEA Helicopter landing, and a K-9 Unit demonstration.  SO exciting for little people!  Plus, it's almost Halloween!  Aaaaaah!  The excitement is reaching a feverish height! 

When life gives you excited little kiddies, you have to figure out how to go with it.  These are some fun things we did this week to work out those wiggles and keep them focused.

1.  Copycat to special songs - This is just a movement activity to keep the beat in your body.  I move the beat to a different movement every 8 beats, so they have to keep watching or they'll get left behind!  When they are good at following quickly, try letting students lead.  I go around the circle, with each student leading a movement for 8 beats.  When I say "switch!", the next student leads with their movment.  This weeks fun songs were: 

• Monster Mash
• Purple People Eater
• Witch Doctor
• Scooby Doo Theme Song (kinders go nuts for this one!)
• I Want Candy

2.  "Witch Doctor" is fun to sing!  I taught the kids to sing the chorus ("ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang, wadda wadda bing bang!")  It's great for phonemic awareness with younger students, and good articulation practice for older kids.

3.  Listening Lesson:  J.S. Bach, "Toccata and Fugue in d minor" - Did you know that many kids have never seen or heard of a pipe organ these days?  I made a slideshow with pics of the pipe organ from our church a few years ago.  We talk about how the organ works, how kids used to pump the air into the organ for Bach and other greats, and how MANY pipes there are.  Then we listen to the music.  I tell them that Bach was writing for church....so why does it sound scary?  Great discussions in 3rd and 4th grade!

4.  Spooky Walk - a LONG time ago, I had a record (yes, vinyl record!) with this speech activity on it.  It's like the "Bear Hunt" we've all done, but instead they hear spooky sounds along the way.  At the end, we go into a cave with dripping water in the background and echoing sounds.  They LOVE it!  (I have since managed to record the album with an mp3 recorder so I can use it again. It's not the greatest quality, but that makes it even spookier!)

5.  "Grickler Grackle" - I can't remember which book I got this one from, but it's a speech piece that I use in 2nd grade.  We learn the rhyme, then match the rhythms with the correct line.  Then I divide them into small groups, where they write their own answer to the final question.

•  Listen!  Listen!  Listen to the witch!
• Grickle, grackle, chip, chop, crunch!
• Grickle, grackle, gooble, gooble, munch, munch, munch!
• Whatever in the world is she having for lunch?

She's had everything from chips and crackers to bones, eyes, and spider stew!  You can also let the groups use instruments to add sounds to their final performance of the piece (including their original ending). 


So that's what we've been doing at my school!  If you like these and would like more info, or a copy of a ppt., leave your email in a comment below and I'll be happy to share!  Now, what are your favorite October activities?