HAUNTED HOUSE Transformation: Halloween FUN!

Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Halloween is one of my FAVORITE days in the classroom! It used to be a day of chaos and candy, but now it’s a day of engagement and FUN! Last year for Halloween I transformed my classroom into a haunted house using a few cheap supplies from Walmart, and did three fun stations that kept my kiddos busy all day! Keep reading for ALL the details and a complete breakdown of every thing I used to make Halloween SPOOKY and FUN!

THE DECOR:

Making my classroom look like a Haunted house was really quite simple. I love transformations when the lights can be turned off because decorating is that much easier! I started off by covering the windows with some black butcher paper in order to get it as dark as possible. I wanted to be able to use the tables throughout the day so I kept them where they normally are and I simply covered them with black tablecloths and added some fun decorations to the top - spiderwebs and spiders. I hung fake spiderweb literally EVERYWHERE and turned on a couple disco lights to set the mood. I also turned my under board LED lighting to green, and turned on a couple black-lights. I asked parents to help with classroom decor since I wasn't asking for party supplies! I sent home a list of items I needed a couple weeks before the transformation and got everything I needed. I made sure items were cheap and easy to grab at Walmart or Dollar General.

Supplies I asked for:

Black tablecloths, spiderwebs (LOTS of them), plastic spiders, 6 black bowls, candy corn, and toothpicks, food items needed for fear factor (noodles, cabbage, rice, raisins, oil, etc.)

Items I already had:

black lights, blacklight flashlights, and a strobe light

THE STATIONS:

STATION 1: FEAR FACTOR Math -

EYEBALLS, INTESTINES, SKIN, MAGGOTS & BUGS... OH MY!

Do your students have the courage to reach in and find a task card for their group? For this station students simply took turns reaching in and grabbing out a math task card for their group to solve. I made two sets of task cards for each box, which allowed me to differentiate my groups. These task cards are simply computation. The looks on my kiddos faces when they reached into these boxes was THE BEST! It made the peeling of grapes that took place long after my bedtime the night before the transformation totally worth it! Ha!

What you will need to create fear factor math in your classroom:

I created four different fear factor boxes.
Intestines – Spaghetti noodles/oil
Maggots/Bugs- Overcooked rice/raisins/oil
Eyeballs – Peeled grapes/oil
Human Skin – Cooked cabbage
 (There are lots of other options online.)

You will also need four boxes to put each of these in and wet wipes and paper towels near by.

How to set up fear factor: Prepare each different type of food and place in separate plastic boxes. Cut and laminate task cards for each box and mix them into the food items. Find four boxes that can be placed on top of the plastic boxes that contain the fear factor items. I used copy paper boxes that we had lying around the school. I just used the bottom portion of the box and flipped them over on top of the plastic containers. I cut a hole just large enough for a hand in the middle of the bottom of the box (which becomes the top when flipped over).
**GRAB MATH TASK CARDS HERE. The pack includes 4th and 5th grade level task cards, along with an editable file so that you can create your own task cards and box labels in case you want to do something slightly different than what I did!

STATION 2: BEAN BOOZLED MATH

For this station, students played bean boozled. To set this station up, I grabbed the bean boozle refillable packs on Amazon and printed (and laminated) the spinner off of google. I put the beans in a black bowl and positioned it in the middle of the table. Students took turns drawing task cards. Students would ALL solve the task card and discuss the answer. Once everyone had the same answer, the person who picked the task card then got to spin the bean-boozled wheel. Kiddos LOVE gross things, so they thought that this game was AMAZING!

*Please note that I did NOT make any student participate in the eating of the jelly beans if they didn't want to! ... and you will definitely want to keep a trash can near by. = )



You can grab the task cards I used HERE on TpT. They can be used for simple practice or another game if you don't want to use them for Bean Boozled.

Items needed to do Bean-Boozled Math in your classroom: Bean BoozledJelly Beans (and a spinner – I printed a spinner off the internet), task cards, paper towels, and a trashcan

STATION 3: NEON-READ ON


For this station, I used Hope Kings Neon – Read On Resources with a Halloween passage. You can learn more about her activity by checking out her blog HERE or by attending a Get Your Teach On conference!

Items needed to do Neon Read On in your classroom: Blacklight flashlights, highlighters, and a passage.

STATION FOUR: SKELETON FLINGERS

*Using context clues task cards.
This year I added a fourth station using Skeleton FLINGERS I found in the Target Dollar spot. Students will solve a reading task card and then fling a skeleton onto a Target to earn points for their team! Check back for photos of this station! If you can’t find flingers in your dollar spot, you could simply pair reading task cards with any Halloween themed game. =)



4 comments

  1. I love these Halloween ideas! What passages did you use for the neon read on? Thank you!

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  2. What did you read for Neon Read On?

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