Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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?
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: Well, everyone, we have got some great news about
Halloween. This year it falls on a Friday. Woo hoo.
Emily: Oh my gosh, that is such a gift. It's too bad it can't
work out that way every year.
Heidi: It should just be every year Halloween is on a Friday or
Saturday.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: It's a mouthful.
Emily: She returns a greeting, good morning, Liam O'Lantern,
and then they each make their best Jack O' Lantern face at
each other.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: It's my favorite I think.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: The show notes are hopping this week. You got to
check them out.
Heidi: Yes they are.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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?
Emily: What could it be?
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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?
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: Which means you are ready to tackle the actual day without
everything falling apart. So let's talk about your Halloween
day game plan.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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
Heidi: But definitely do Garfield, if you've got the
bats.
choice.
Emily: I know, it's so nostalgic.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: Yeah, watch out for that if you're doing sugar cookies as
part of your party.
Emily: You can't trust those kits you can get at the store
because the frosting in them is insane.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving
extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
credit?
Emily: This is one of my weirder extra credits, I think.
Heidi: Okay.
Emily: 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?
Heidi: Yes, that's a ridiculous choice.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: You deserve it. You're a teacher in October.
Emily: That's right. What are you giving extra credit to,
Heidi?
Heidi: Okay, well, I think I'm late to the game on this, but
I'm giving extra credit to ambience videos on YouTube.
Emily: Ooh.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: Oh my gosh.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: Oh my gosh. I love it.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: 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.
Emily: 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.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily: Bye.