Halloween Fun and a Freebie!

Today is Halloween, and I teach 5th graders. I think my team of teachers were more excited about it than the kids! I had all these ideas for today: dry ice flowing out of my classroom, cobwebs everywhere, and all sorts of decorations, but that sounded too expensive for a day of excitement and there would be lots of kids coming through my hall who would not be able to help tearing it down :( I decided a while ago to make them a Halloween themed review activity, so I made a Forms of Energy Task Card set using Melonheadz clip art. I love all of her work!

The kids really seemed to like this. Then as they finished, they went back in the classroom and created a Halloween crossword puzzle practicing their critical thinking skills. It takes a lot of planning to come up with words that can link up, clues that are not obvious, and put it all together without having to fill in letters and erase them. They enjoyed this, too. I think that they were excited to be doing Halloween themed stuff without having to be all engrossed in it because they were "too old for that." I love the crossword puzzle activity for a few reasons. It helps them practice their vocabulary, learn how to plan ahead, and they enjoy trying to solve someone else's crossword puzzle. They don't even have to have that many words on there. Five to Six words done correctly shows they can do it. I never give them a minimum amount on anything or I will have too many kids just doing that exact amount. Here is a freebie for you. It is a crossword puzzle maker set with a planning sheet, instructions, and an example. I hope you enjoy it and can use it for all sorts of things :)

Happy Halloween!