Let’s face it, when Halloween falls during the school week, you just have to embrace it and all the craziness excitement that comes with it. So, even though you’ve attended the Fall Fest, thrown a party at school, paraded them through the hallways to show off their costumes, read ALL THE READ-ALOUDS, been visited by The Candy Corn Bandit, and sent them on their merry way to trick-or-treat at home, they’ll still return to school the day after 100% HYPED about Halloween. They can’t help it. Candy and costumes and staying up past their bedtimes on a sugar high cannot be easily extinguished.

So, instead of trying to fight it, I’m going to encourage you to accept the post-Halloween frenzy and funnel their enthusiasm into meaningful class work. You might as well!

They’re going to want to tell you ALL ABOUT HALLOWEEN – every detail of their costumes, how they lugged 100lbs of candy around their neighborhoods, how they visited a REAL haunted house, stayed up until midnight, and were sent to school with a lunchbox full of M&Ms and mini Snickers and licorice ropes and Starbursts because mom was in her own version of survival mode and let Billy pack his own lunch. (Also, I’m praying for you.)

But, let’s be real. There are twenty-five of them and one of you, and unless you devote an entire day of one-to-one conferences to discuss everyone’s Halloween, it’s impossible to let them shake off the last of Halloween during the school day without the entire day going to waste. If naps were an option, I’d 100% recommend that, but obviously your admin may take issue with that 😉

But, I HAVE A PLAN! 

Turn their post-Halloween excitement into a writing and speaking/listening activity! Here’s the deets…

How I Spent October 31st | How I Spent Halloween Activity (approximately 1 hours)

1. Have everyone fill out an activity sheet (10-15 minutes)
2. Gather as a whole class and give each child 1 minutes to give a mini-presentation about their Halloween and share the information on their activity sheet (25-30 minutes)
3. Optional: After each students’ presentation, allow 1 student to ask a question of the presenter.

What do you think?! Does this sound doable?! If so, click HERE or on the graphic below to grab this activity FOR FREE! (PS. I included not just differentiated options, but also 2 different versions in case you have students who do not celebrate the holiday!

ALSO, don’t forget that I have AN ENTIRE POST dedicated to EIGHT FREE HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES that you can use tomorrow, too!!! Or, you can click on either of the posts below to see what I did in my classroom!