This is episode 229 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story

Window, where we give research based and teacher approved

strategies that make teaching less stressful and more

effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from

each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we are talking about how to keep the Halloween fun

without losing your sanity, and we're sharing a teacher approved

tip for resetting your room after all the Halloween

excitement.

Let's start with try it tomorrow, where we share a quick

win that you can try in your classroom right away. Emily,

what is our suggestion for this week?

This week, try adding a calm down countdown to your

transitions. So before moving from one activity to another,

have students take three deep breaths and count down from five

together. Sounds simple, but it's amazing how those few

seconds help everyone reset their energy level.

I love this one. It absolutely works any time of

year, but it is especially helpful when your kids are

running high on excitement, like, you know, the week before

Halloween, when they're basically caffeinated squirrels.

If you like this idea or anything else we share here on

the podcast, would you please take a minute and give us a five

star rating and review on Apple podcasts, or you can leave a

rating and a comment on Spotify.

Well, everyone, we have got some great news about

Halloween. This year it falls on a Friday. Woo hoo.

Oh my gosh, that is such a gift. It's too bad it can't

work out that way every year.

It should just be every year Halloween is on a Friday or

Saturday.

Yes, and we're just so glad that you all get to escape

the day after Halloween hangover this year. But of course,

Halloween on Friday also means managing a whole week of soaring

excitement levels.

It's gonna be a long week. So let's talk about how

you can get through with your sanity intact. Today we're

sharing our Halloween Survival Guide, and basically, it all

comes down to the candy rule.

Yes, everyone loves candy. It's such a big part of

Halloween. However, it is so easy to overdo it. A small

handful is sweet and magical, but a bucket full leads to a

sugar crash and complete chaos.

And that sums up our whole management philosophy. A

little Halloween spirit sprinkled into your day can

boost engagement and create the kinds of memories that your kids

will talk about for years. But if you halloweenify every single

worksheet and throw out all of your routines, you are setting

yourself up for a week of trying to teach those caffeinated

squirrels.

Yeah, nobody wants that. So we're going to walk you

through how to add just enough Halloween magic without

derailing your whole month. We've got three main areas to

focus on, the lead up to the big day, Halloween day itself, and

the reset afterward.

So let's start with the lead up, because this is the

make it or break it point. You're either going to set

yourself up for success, or, you know, the opposite.

The absolute most essential thing you can do to

have a successful Halloween week is to keep your core routines

intact. You can't skip this part unless you want to send your

kids straight into chaos.

But that doesn't mean that you can't add a light

sprinkling of fun.

No, of course we want the fun. We want those seasonal

sprinkles, but remember the candy rule, a small handful is

great, a big bucket is a disaster.

Yeah, your kids need their routines. They thrive on

predictability, especially when excitement levels are through

the roof. So don't abandon your regular morning work or skip

your math block. Lean hard on what's normal if you have a

class of kids that tip into overwhelm easily.

And most will at Halloween time, even if your class mostly can

handle things, like something big like Halloween, is going to

impact pretty much all classes. So just keep that in mind.

Oh yes, definitely.

If your class is able to handle a little spark, try

adding seasonal flair to what you're already doing. So, for

example, keep your morning meeting routine, but you can add

a festive greeting, like Jack O' Lantern grins, where you sit in

a circle and you ask one student to start. Let's say you pick

Liam. So Liam greets the student on his left and says the

student's name with O' Lantern. So that would be like, Good

morning, Sophia O'Lantern.

It's a mouthful.

She returns a greeting, good morning, Liam O'Lantern,

and then they each make their best Jack O' Lantern face at

each other.

I can hear the giggles now. I'd love having a festive

morning meeting greeting. It's very low key, but it's just the

right amount of fun to keep things exciting. And we also

love a seasonal morning message. So for example, a question like,

there are three more bats than spiders. How many bats and

spiders could there be? Leans into the fun, but it doesn't

take away from the thinking.

And if you want cute, thoughtful done for you morning

messages, we happen to have sets for first through fourth grade.

They each include a couple 100 non-seasonal thinking questions

to get everyone's brain turning, but we also have a set of 60

seasonal questions for each grade level. So that gives you

plenty of fun options to choose from. We will link to those in

the show notes.

Keeping your overall routine normal while dropping in

that little bit of novelty means that your students' engagement

stays high and you're giving extra energy a safe outlet, but

you're doing all of this without having to compromise

instructional time. Festive but meaningful is probably our

favorite type of activity. You can bet we go to a lot of

parties. One way we keep things festive but meaningful is with

our vocabulary lessons. If you use our jargon journal

vocabulary program, which we love so much, it's so fun, we

have got festive but meaningful units for The Fierce Yellow

Pumpkin, Halloween Night, Scary Scary Halloween, and my personal

favorite, The Vanishing Pumpkin.

Such good books. And while we're pitching our

products, why don't we just let you know that we also have our

Halloween fluency in a flash lessons. If you don't do

Halloween at your school, we also have a fun fall theme. But

if you can do Halloween, they are so fun. You might see the

Sanderson Sisters in there. You might see Wednesday and Pugsley

in there. It's so much fun. This is like, I think I say this

every time, but the Halloween set might be like, my favorite

set.

It's my favorite I think.

Oh, it's so fun. And of course, we do have lots of

non-seasonal fluency in a flash lessons, but we're just really

proud of the seasonal stuff. It feels so special. It's hard to

describe these on a podcast, though. So you'll just have to

go try them, I think, to see how interactive and engaging they

are.

I really am still blown away every time I watch one of

these. Each day has a meaningful activity that targets an

essential fluency skill. But I promise that your kids will be

having so much fun, they will never realize it's educational.

And we will link to our seasonal fluency in a flash mini lessons

in the show notes as well.

The show notes are hopping this week. You got to

check them out.

Yes they are.

As you plan the rest of your Halloween lead up week,

your math story problems can feature pumpkins and science can

explore bats, but remember that there's no pressure to

halloweenify every single part of your day. In fact, you should

definitely avoid doing that. If every worksheet has a Jack O'

Lantern on it, it stops being special, and then it stops being

a tool that you can use to shape your classroom management.

Remember, we're going for the fun of a handful of candy,

and not the heaviness of a whole bucket, so adding in these

little bits of excitement helps draw off the excess energy that

is building up before Halloween. Because these sparks of fun are

increasing your students engagement, it makes all of your

classroom management so much easier. And if you would like to

sprinkle in some seasonal fun without having to adapt any of

your content, may we introduce you to one of our favorite

tools, festive breaks.

Festive breaks are short, low prep activities that you can

pull out whenever you want a little seasonal excitement.

They're print and go activities like Halloween tic tac toe or

roll a monster, and having these copied and ready to grab at a

moment's notice will be a huge relief when you need them.

Now, the key to a festive break is the activity card. The

front of the card is a cute seasonal picture, and the back

of the card names a fun activity. Now, as the teacher,

you get to decide how many breaks you want to do, and you

get to decide when it's time to choose a card. For example, you

might want to schedule it into your day, and you would do an

activity after reading or one after lunch.

Or you might want to have students earn an activity with

on task behavior. This is one of our best holiday management

tips. You could say something like, if everyone works on their

math page for 15 minutes without talking, we can choose an

activity, but if people start talking, I'll have to restart

the timer. Let the structure of trying to earn a reward tamp

down some of the excess energy in your room.

And we will put a link to our Halloween festive breaks in

the show notes. Unfortunately, we don't have a non-Halloween

fall set available. I was really hoping to get to it this year,

but the calendar won out on this one.

Yeah, we've been a little bit busy writing that book we're

writing.

Oh yeah, I don't know if we've mentioned that. Hi everyone.

We're writing a book.

That's a, that's an Easter egg in this episode, is that we are

writing a book, but we'll talk about that on another episode.

Turns out writing a book takes up a lot of time. Who knew?

But no matter how strategic we are about handling seasonal

spark, the closer we get to the 31st, the more the energy level

is going to climb. That's totally normal, but because we

can predict it, we can plan for how to address it.

Recognizing when your regular management plan will

need a boost is how you know you've achieved peak teacher

status, because this is some ninja level stuff.

So decide now how you can increase your structure to

manage the excess novelty. A good place to start is with a

discussion. A few days before Halloween, preview the plan with

your students. Let them know when the fun stuff will happen

and when it's business as usual.

try using a visual schedule if you can. Post it

where everyone can see it, so that you don't get constant wins

the party questions, because you will. Even though you are

sticking to your normal routines and core subject blocks as much

as possible, letting kids know when the out of the ordinary is

happening will go a long way toward keeping everyone calm.

Also, you definitely want to build in more brain breaks this

week as well. When kids are buzzing with excitement, they

need more opportunities to get the wiggles out.

And guess what we have?

What could it be?

Well, surprise, we have got 60 Halloween brain breaks

that are perfect for this. We've divided them into three

categories, activities to increase focus, activities to

calm excitement, and activities to boost energy. That way you

can find exactly what you need the moment you need it.

Halloween week, you'll probably get a lot of use out of our

refocus brain breaks. Those are the ones you'll turn to to

settle everyone down.

These are so calming. One of my favorite refocused brain breaks

is a mindful movement activity called Fun with Jack. So you

would have your students stand, everyone calm, centered,

breathing slowly and calmly, and then you'd walk them through

this activity. Pretend you're holding a Jack O' Lantern

between your hands. Slowly move it side to side, from left to

right, lower it down to your feet and lift it up again.

Slowly raise it to your mouth and blow out the candle with

three slow breaths.

Oh, I feel calmer already. But, and this is

important, for every brain break, make sure you set clear

expectations beforehand. How long will it last? Where can

students move? How loud can they be? What is the consequence if

someone chooses not to follow the rules, and what should

happen as soon as the brain break is over?

That last part is so crucial. If you don't have a

clear ending signal, you're going to spend five minutes

trying to get everyone back on track before you can move on

with the day, and then everyone is just going to be as tired and

unfocused as they were before you started.

Okay, you've maintained your core classroom structure

while strategically sprinkling in seasonal fun. By the time

Halloween morning hits, your class will be excited but still

anchored. They know what to expect, and you've given them

plenty of appropriate outlets for all that energy.

Which means you are ready to tackle the actual day without

everything falling apart. So let's talk about your Halloween

day game plan.

Feels like we could have a whole series about how to

handle this day. And you know, if Halloween isn't a big deal at

your school, like you don't do costumes or parties, then you

probably could mostly plan a normal day with just a few

seasonal activities sprinkled in. You can have lots of fun

with scarecrows and pumpkins if witches and Jack O' Lanterns

aren't the right vibe for your school.

But if there is a costume parade or a class party or both,

you're going to need what we call a Plan B schedule. And

honestly, that's probably the smarter move regardless, because

even if your school doesn't officially celebrate, your kids

are going to be thinking about trick or treating and costumes

all day long.

The goal with a plan B schedule is to keep the routine

predictable, even if the activities aren't your usual

ones. So if your students are used to doing science from 2 to

2:,30 show a science video during that time instead of

trying to teach a regular lesson.

And you can do the same thing with math. Instead of your

regular lesson, pull out math games from earlier in the year

and have your kids rotate through stations, or you set

time for a review work packet.

I think this could be maybe our unpopular teaching

opinion, which is that work packets are a lifesaver,

especially on disruptive days like this, and it doesn't mean

that it's just fluff and a waste of time. A collection of

Halloween themed worksheets that mix review practice with a few

just for fun pages can keep kids productively busy when you need

them to be.

And we have got a Halloween work packet that

includes pages at three different difficulty levels so

that you can differentiate for your whole class. It's got that

seasonal theme that makes everything feel special, but it

is still solid review practice.

You can always count on us for review. To help you

figure out your plan B schedule, here are a couple of examples.

If you've got a morning Halloween party, which is what

my kids school does, and it's blows my mind every time, but

that's what they do. So it might look like 8:30 to 9, costume

parade with parents, 9 to 10:45, class party, 10:45 to 11:30,

clean up and watch a 30 minute movie, like maybe the 80s

classic Garfield's Halloween or something educational about

But definitely do Garfield, if you've got the

bats.

choice.

I know, it's so nostalgic.

Then you might have lunch from 11:30 to 12. In the

afternoon, do a morning meeting after lunch as a way to check in

and reset. Hand out those work packets, give kids some time to

work. And then you can break up the work time with brain breaks,

festive breaks, specialty classes and reading time.

Yeah, bust out those Halloween books and do some fun

read alouds. You can do one of those between every activity. If

your party is in the afternoon, you might do a normal morning

routine then, and then maybe you want to do a themed writing

activity during your normal writing time. Hand out a work

packet and give kids time to work. Have recess, read a

Halloween story, maybe play a Halloween math game, finish work

packets, then party time and clean up.

The key is having a plan, instead of just winging it. When

you know what's coming next, you can stay calm, and that keeps

your kids calm too.

Now let's talk about managing the actual party. If

you're doing stations, a craft station, a game station, a snack

station, time those rotations and have a clear signal for

switching.

Recruit parent helpers to run the stations if you can, so

that you can supervise the whole room instead of getting stuck

trying to manage one activity while the rest of the room falls

apart. If you want all of our best tips for planning a party

that leaves you smiling instead of sweating, check out episodes

33, 34 and 96.

As soon as we started talking about the Halloween

party, I just got like itchy, because I have helped at so many

Halloween parties for my kids at the elementary schools, and most

of them have been very disorganized. As the helper it

has made me crazy. So please go check out those episodes,

because we really go deep into the nitty gritty, because we

know how exhausting it is trying to orchestrate fun without

losing control of those 25 sugared up kids. So check out

those episodes, and then let's address the biggest hassles,

treats and costumes.

For treats, decide in advance how and when candy gets

eaten. Perhaps it's just one treat during the party and the

rest goes home, or perhaps it's a free for all, because you are

sending them home in an hour anyway. Decide what works best

for your class, and then let any parent volunteers know your

expectation.

Also communicate this clearly to students ahead of

time to avoid disappointment. It might be a good idea to have non

food options available to like stickers, pencils, small toys

that can keep everyone included and help you avoid the sugar

overload situation, and that like dyed black frosting all

over their face. I hate it so much.

Yeah, watch out for that if you're doing sugar cookies as

part of your party.

You can't trust those kits you can get at the store

because the frosting in them is insane.

For costumes, if they are allowed at your school, create

what we call a costume contract. Share rules about

appropriateness, safety and when costumes can be worn or removed.

If costumes aren't worn all day, figure out when the students

will change. Let parents know that you aren't going to be

helping anyone get dressed, so they should practice putting

things on and taking them off at home. Also make it very clear

that students have to be able to manage the bathroom

independently in their costume.

Oh, yeah, no one wants an accident, especially on

Halloween. If costumes are being worn at school, you might

consider bringing a backup costume or two, just in case not

all of your students have one for whatever reason.

Yeah, that definitely caught me off guard when I was a

new teacher. I remember frantically texting a roommate

with an office job because she could get away from work in the

middle of the day and asking her, begging her to run to the

store and grab a couple of costumes, like whatever was left

at that point. After that year, I made sure to come prepared on

Halloween. I'm not letting something as silly as a costume

parade contribute to anyone's childhood trauma. Not on my

watch.

No, no way. It's also a good idea to have a repair kit

handy, tape, safety pins, maybe some plastic grocery bags for

costume pieces that won't fit in backpacks. Trust me, these

situations come up more than you would expect.

As crazy as the Halloween festivities are, make sure that

you don't shortcut your end of day routine. If the party is

scheduled later in your day, let everyone know that the party

time ends 30 minutes before the bell. That way, if it runs long,

because it'll run long, you still have a good buffer of time

to clean up the mess and make sure everything is ready for

tomorrow. Trust us, you don't want to start your day after

Halloween already running behind.

And that brings us to our final piece for surviving

Halloween, the reset. This year, Halloween falls on a Friday, so

you've got the weekend to recover, but when it swings back

around to a Sunday, you're going to need strategies for that

Monday morning.

Yeah, that's a rough one. Plan a gentle next morning

routine. Play soft music as the kids arrive, make sure to greet

them at the door and hear about their fun adventures, and signal

that it's time to focus on learning now. Kids need to

transition back to school mode, and you can help them do that

gradually.

Review your expectations and procedures again, not in a harsh

way, but as a gentle reminder. Remember when we line up, we

turn our voices off and keep our hands to ourselves.

And give yourself some grace too. Halloween is genuinely

exhausting for teachers, but as tiring as it is, hopefully you

find a little fun in it too. When you give yourself

permission to lean into the season, even just a little, you

remind yourself of the things you love about teaching.

And even if it feels like a big waste of time, those tiny

touches are what knit your class together. Shared moments like a

festive fluency practice or a class wide vote on a Halloween

read aloud, build a sense of us. That us is what keeps behavior

manageable all year long, because students feel part of

something bigger than themselves.

That sprinkle of seasonal fun is good for everyone.

Remember these tips so you make it to November in one piece. Use

the candy rule as a guideline, a handful of fun creates magic, a

bucket full creates chaos. During the lead up, keep core

routines intact while adding light seasonal sprinkles. On

Halloween day, have a plan B schedule and structured

celebrations with clear boundaries. And afterward, plan

a gentle reset.

Halloween doesn't have to be something you just survive.

With the right balance, it can be something you and your

students actually enjoy together. We'd love to hear your

best Halloween tips. Come join the conversation in our Teacher

Approved Facebook group.

Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where we share an

actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and

simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is to

create a reset ritual for after big, exciting events. Tell us

about this one, Heidi.

A reset ritual is just a simple, consistent routine that

you use to help everyone get back to baseline. It might be

starting the day with some deep breathing exercises, doing a

familiar morning meeting activity, or spending a few

extra minutes reviewing your classroom agreements. The key is

that it is predictable and calming. After all of the

excitement and novelty, everyone's brains need some

structure to grab onto, and probably so do you.

For Halloween specifically, since this year it

falls on Friday, you could use Monday morning to have kids

share one favorite memory from their Halloween, then do a quick

shake out the sillies activity to physically release any

leftover excitement.

You might also want to spend a few minutes

acknowledging the transition. Halloween was so fun, and now

we're back to our regular learning routine. Our brains

might need a few minutes to switch gears, and that's okay.

The ritual doesn't have to be long or complicated. Even

just dimming the lights and playing soft music for five

minutes can help signal to everyone's nervous systems that

it's time to settle in.

And bonus, if you establish this pattern now, you

can use it all year long, after the winter party, after

Valentine's Day, after that field trip to the zoo where

everyone got way too excited about the monkeys.

Who can blame them? The monkeys are so fun. So pick one

simple activity, breathing, soft music, a favorite morning

meeting game, a favorite story, whatever feels right to you, and

use it consistently after exciting events. Your future

self will thank you, and so will your students.

To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving

extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra

credit?

This is one of my weirder extra credits, I think.

Okay.

So I've always seen that at Chick fil A, you can get

waffle chips instead of waffle fries. And I was like, who on

earth is getting chips over fries?

Yes, that's a ridiculous choice.

But then I saw that they have a Chick fil A sauce

flavored chip. And I was curious. I was just too curious.

I was like, you know what, I mean, I'm just gonna try them.

And it turns out there are delicious. So I guess I'm giving

extra credit to chips. I kind of wish you could get them at the

store so that you didn't have to, well, you know what, I was

just gonna say, so that you didn't have to give up fries for

chips. Well, who says you have to give them up? Get both, dang

it. Get the fries and get the chips. They're delicious.

You deserve it. You're a teacher in October.

That's right. What are you giving extra credit to,

Heidi?

Okay, well, I think I'm late to the game on this, but

I'm giving extra credit to ambience videos on YouTube.

Ooh.

Now if you have also missed out on these, it's just a

charming image, probably AI generated, if we're being

honest, with like, some gentle animation like a crackling fire

or blowing leaves and calming sound effects, and it just like

runs on the loop for hours.

Oh my gosh.

So, you know, a cozy cabin with a fireplace and soft

rainfall. I have been putting one on in the evenings when I

read, and it turns it into a whole event.

Oh my gosh. I love it.

I've been using it over my actual fireplace. So if you

want some surprise and delight in your own class, this could be

really fun to add. Try projecting one of these

occasionally during work time or reading time. Just I would say a

couple of things I run into, check if it has music, because

that could distract some students. And then double check

if it has mid roll commercials. I have been peacefully reading

next to a babbling brook, and then suddenly a Tide commercial

is shouting at me.

You can block the ads too when you're on YouTube by

putting in a dash between the T and the U, and then it refreshes

the video without any ads. The only problem is if the creator

baked an ad into the video. But I found that to be very

uncommon. It almost never happens, but there are some, and

who knows, I haven't tried these videos, so there could be some

baked in ads in there.

Well, that's good to know. That's a real handy tip.

Yeah, for the most part, especially if you're playing

something at school, you want to put that dash between the T and

the U in YouTube, refresh the page, and then ad free. You

don't have to worry what might pop up.

That's it for today's episode. Use our Halloween

Survival Guide to keep the fun without losing your sanity.

Remember the candy rule, plan your lead up strategies, have

that plan B schedule ready, and don't forget to build in time

for a reset.

And make sure to try our teacher approved tip for

creating a reset ritual that you can use all year long after

exciting events.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye for now.

Bye.