Alternate Non-Halloween Activities

For lower grades (K-1) we do apple and pumpkin songs. My favorite bulletin board is sort of Halloween, but no one has ever complained. I start with a very long banner that says, "When you wake up in the morning at a quarter to one and you want to have a little fun, you BRUSH YOUR TEETH." The actual bulletin board is a piece of purple fabric with a candy corn print. I cut out a huge pumpkin and gave it a happy face. Then I stapled candy wrappers around it. I have pictures of a cartoon tooth, sugar, and plaque that result in tooth decay.

We do tooth songs, such as Brush Your Teeth and I Have a Loose Tooth, etc.

Second graders do Grieg's "In the Hall Of The Mountain King" from Peer Gynt. I adapted the script from an older version of SBG. Directions for presenting: Tell the story with background music. I only concentrate on "Morning Mood" and "In The Hall Of The Mountain King." Then let the children reenact the story using props while I narrate the story, or let them improvise.

I always do a unit in October on Phantom Of The Opera with my third graders. I found a wonderful cartoon version (ISBN 4100-96057-3). After that, I show clips from the 1925 Lon Chaney version and the 1945 Claude Raines version. We talk about how movies have progressed from the B&W silent films to today. Then we look at pictures of the Paris Opera House (as mentioned in the story) and also pictures of the Broadway version.

For fourth grade, we do Rossini's Ghost (ISBN 7464-66717-3). We talk about the things that went wrong when he wrote the Barber Of Seville and how superstition can be misconstrued.

Then, there are the ever popular Music K-8 songs, Dweller Of The Cave, The Sounds Of The Night, and Bat Dance. My kids ask for Dweller ALL YEAR LONG! It is a good piece for dynamics. They also love "Chicken Lips." I also use a plastic skeleton and sing Dem Bones. I made labels with the names of the bones and taped them in the appropriate places on just one side of the skeleton. Then... I made labels with the scientific names and attached them to the other side. We sing the song. After that, we play Simon Says for a while using the scientific names. (Simon says, "Touch your patella, touch your scapula, etc.") Then we try singing Dem Bones with the scientific names. Then you can do a variety of steady beat and rhythm activities.

That leads in to: (I can't remember my source for this, but it was an Orff workshop. It sounds good with creepy sound effects in the background)

IN THE DARK

ppp - It's dark in my room and it's late at night.
It's the first time I'm sleeping without my light.
pp - There's something downstairs,* it's in the hall.
Well, maybe it's nothing... nothing at all.
p - But there it is again at the foot of the stair.
There's something in the house! *I know it's there!
mp - It could be that tiger * I saw on TV.
It's coming up the stairs * to gobble up me!
mf - Maybe it's a lion or a big black bear.
I can hear its footsteps at the top of the stair.
f - Closer and closer now it's coming to my room.
Maybe it's a vampire who escaped from his tomb!
ff - It's turning my doorknob, * it's opening up my door.
What if it's a dragon? (Maybe two or three or four!)
fff - It's coming in my room.* Oh, what will I do?
fff>>>pp - Oh... Hello, Mother... It's only you!

Of course there are also wonderful commercial products available, such as "From Hay Rides To Sleigh Rides," a great collection of Orff activities.