School decoration

What do you like to decorate with? That bucket of blood?
brunafcorrea
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School decoration

Post by brunafcorrea » Fri Sep 06, 2013 2:36 am

Hi, everyone!

Last year, my students and I decorated our school for Halloween. It was all very simple, but we had a lot of fun. You can see the results here: http://teacherbrunacorrea.wordpress.com ... ecoration/

I'd like to know if you have any ideas for school decoration. And if those of you who are also teachers have done any halloween projects in your schools, please share your experiences.

Thanks! :D

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Demonic Duck
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Re: School decoration

Post by Demonic Duck » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:26 am

brunafcorrea, those pics look great thanks for sharing. The activities you can do really depend on the ages of the kids. I'm sure my wife would have some great ideas for you if you let me know the age range of your kids.

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Re: School decoration

Post by Murfreesboro » Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:16 am

One project I got from Family Fun magazine involves cutting holes into clean plastic milk jugs and sticking the small crystal Christmas lights into them. You use black permanent markers to draw faces on the fronts, sort of like jack-o-lantern faces. They are called Ghost Lights. Very quick , inexpensive, and totally cute!

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Re: School decoration

Post by NeverMore » Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:30 am


Wow! You guys have got it nailed! I don't think I could add anything to that. Only other thing that stands out from my youth, besides the decorations, was when we kids would wear costumes in school and parade around the neighborhood. This was in elementary school.

I'm guessing your interest is because you teach English but how about the rest of your country? Is Halloween catching on in Brazil?



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brunafcorrea
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Re: School decoration

Post by brunafcorrea » Fri Sep 06, 2013 12:36 pm

Hello, guys!

Thanks a lot for answering.
The ghost lights seem really easy to make! :)
And I'm glad you liked the pics!

Answering your questions:
In my school, we have students from 10 to 17 years old. So, we can ask them to do a variety of things.

Here in Brazil, we don't celebrate Halloween like you do, but some people like to make Halloween parties and wear costumes. We can even find some children who go trick or treating in some regions.
As an English teacher, I think it's important to teach culture too, especially because it makes students like the language and feel closer to it.
Besides the decoration, last year I could ask them to wear costumes at school. They just loved it!
They're already asking me what we're going to do for Halloween this year. That's why I needed ideas. hehe

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Re: School decoration

Post by SimonFreeman » Sat Sep 07, 2013 4:26 am

Murfreesboro wrote:One project I got from Family Fun magazine involves cutting holes into clean plastic milk jugs and sticking the small crystal Christmas lights into them. You use black permanent markers to draw faces on the fronts, sort of like jack-o-lantern faces. They are called Ghost Lights. Very quick , inexpensive, and totally cute!
very exciting project.. What we need to work on this project? it is great concept for me

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Re: School decoration

Post by Murfreesboro » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:26 am

OK, what I called Ghost Lights appear to be called "Spirit Jugs" now. I'll see if I can give you a link:

http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010 ... -jugs.html

These are very cheap, super easy to make, and attract lots of attention!

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Re: School decoration

Post by jadewik » Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:19 am

You've certainly come to the right place to ask for ideas!

I'm not sure what kinds of resources you have in Brazil-- I don't know if you guys have black painter's tarp there, but using that to cover a wall or something and then letting kids paint it with glow-in-the-dark paint would be fun-- things like hand prints, paint spatter, writing like "Beware" or "Enter At Your Own Risk" or "KEEP OUT"... typical Halloween or spooky phrases. Shoot, if someone is artistic enough-- and it looks like there are some artsy people there based on some of those images at the blog link-- you might get someone to paint a raven or some skulls, pumpkins and black cats. Make the tarp like a Halloween mural you can pull out every year?

I saw something in a magazine this weekend-- Martha's Halloween magazine, I think-- where she took some white paper sacks and cut pumpkin faces in them to make pumpkin luminaries.

You can make some really good spider webs out of yarn. Start with 8-10 crossing strands, then start a spiral of thread that weaves in and out of the cross-strands.

An artsy alternative to the yarn spider webs would be to take a piece of black construction paper, some white thread, and a needle... and kinda "embroider" Halloween designs into the paper. I've done this with geometric line designs and they can look really cool.

Hmmm... let's see what else....

You gotta read spooky stories... and I love the idea of writing spooky stories and/or poems.

We do a lot of jack-o-lanterns here... Hollowed out pumpkins that are carved with designs. You can use any fruit or veggie with a hard outer shell. I believe jack-o-lanterns originated as turnips... but watermelons also work well.

I don't know if you want to do any Dia de los Muertos cross-over... That's a Mexico tradition that's becoming more popular in the US. It's the day after Halloween... and they do a lot of face painting and paper mache cut-outs... lots of spider web and skull designs.

You'll also want to tell about Halloween. It's kinda a harvest festival that got mixed with old-world traditions about All Souls Day... See, the idea is that the day before All Souls', the evil spirits come out and, naturally (like any good monster), they would go after children. So, the parents would send their children out disguised as monsters... but the children wouldn't have eaten any dinner, so they'd go begging door-to-door for their dinner... which is how the door-to-door tradition of trick-or-treating evolved.... or at least that's what I've heard. There are different stories and versions of how Halloween came to be as we here in the states know it... It's the legend that keeps on evolving.

Mostly, the holiday is about using your imagination, it's about giving, and it's about fun. So, as long as you're all having fun-- you're celebrating with style. =)

In American schools, they sometimes have a Halloween dance-- where kids wear costumes and stand around a gym while music is playing. LOL. (They're supposed to dance, but they usually just stand and talk!) They often have a costume contest-- sometimes doing a "best of" award or a "scariest" or "Funniest" costume category.

A lot of the elementary schools would have festivals or parties with carnival type games. Things like:
* Cake-walks-- it's kinda like musical chairs, but there are enough chairs for people. All the chairs have numbers. You play music. When the music stops, everyone sits in the closest chair. A number corresponding to one of the chairs is drawn and the person sitting on that number chair "wins" a cupcake or some sort of Halloween related prize.

* Bobbing for Apples -- Recently deemed "unsanitary" by a lot of people, this game involved a big bucket of water and several apples. The person doing the bobbing knees in front of the tub of apples and holds their hands behind their back as they try to bite into an apple.

* Fishing-- A big hit with littler kids, there would be a plastic tarp or curtain. There are "fishing rods" made out of a long stick, with a piece of yarn tied to it. At the end of the yarn is a clothespin. The kids "cast" over the curtain and someone behind the curtain attaches a prize and tugs on the line to let the child know they "caught" something.

* Bean-Bag-Toss -- Board with holes... you try to throw the bean bags through the holes. I can't remember if there are/were prizes associated with this game.

At one of my church parties, we had a "first aid" station... where they had gauze and bandages and fake blood and muslin or old fabric scraps torn to strips... and someone at the "first aid" station would gore you up... they'd bandage your arm or finger and make it look like a really bad cut. (This would probably be even more popular with the zombie craze that's going on-- of course, it costs bandages and blood)

Besides costume contests, there are also pumpkin carving contests.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head... if I think of more later, I'll try to post some more ideas. Also, if you could tell a little more about what you'd like to do-- it might help me think of some more ideas. Halloween isn't just about black cats, bats, pumpkins, and monsters-- it's about using your imagination to make the impossible, possible for only one night. =)

Hope your party is fantastic! I hope you let us know how it goes!!! =D

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Re: School decoration

Post by Andybev01 » Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:48 am

Jadewik that was an excellent post.

It brought things to mind I haven't thought about in years like the fishing Booth. I loved doing that.

Also, if you read it from the POV of someone not familiar with the American Halloween some of it comes across as a bit horrifying, which l find hilarious!
All you that doth my grave pass by,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now so you must be,
Prepare for death & follow me.

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Re: School decoration

Post by Retrohal » Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:32 pm

All the decorations from Retroween are kid-friendly and school-friendly. They were the go-to decos in the 1950's and 60's.

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Re: School decoration

Post by Spookymufu » Wed Oct 09, 2013 8:58 pm

Retrohal wrote:All the blah blah blah sell sell sell.
no offense but I see commercials on every type of media all through out the day, I'd like to NOT see em on every post of "my" halloween forum
http://theyard.netii.net/
"You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar but if you pull their wings off they'll eat whatever you give them!"

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Re: School decoration

Post by Demonic Duck » Thu Oct 10, 2013 8:09 am

Spookymufu wrote:
Retrohal wrote:All the blah blah blah sell sell sell.
no offense but I see commercials on every type of media all through out the day, I'd like to NOT see em on every post of "my" halloween forum
I couldn't agree more Spooky. It's one thing to plug your site on the post for it but at this point you're going overboard retrohal I've seen you plug your site on way to many posts. Plus it's in your signature. If you're here to talk Halloween great. If you're here to make money your posts should be down in the classifieds area.

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Re: School decoration

Post by Andybev01 » Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:31 am

Even as a greedy capitalist I must admit that the sell can get a bit tedious.
All you that doth my grave pass by,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now so you must be,
Prepare for death & follow me.

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Re: School decoration

Post by jadewik » Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:38 pm

On that note-- I've taken behind-the-scenes mod actions pertaining to the excessive advertising.

If anyone is keen on me cleaning house, give me a PM with the locations and a weekend to take care of it.

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Re: School decoration

Post by MauEvig » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:00 pm

I do like the idea of introducing other cultures in decorations.
When I took Spanish class we focused a lot on Dia de Muertos during the Halloween season, and I thought it was interesting to learn about.
Other cultures have different "day of the dead" types of celebrations.
Japan has Obon Week, an entire week dedicated to honor the spirits of your ancestors. It's very interesting to learn about. Obon week takes place during the month of August. My cousin who is in Vietnam told me that they have a Moon Festival involving a dragon dance.
Do they have any traditions in Brazil to honor the dead? I'd like to learn about them. :)
I'm beginning to wish I'd taken up teaching when I was younger and wanting to know what to go to school for, because one of the assignments for Literature could be a report on how other cultures celebrate a day of the dead festival. Of course, no one could have predicted the downfall of the economy back in 2003, and I didn't know what I wanted to do career wise back then. I was leaning more toward the arts, but I always liked English class and the literary arts as well.
If you're teaching English perhaps you could research some books that are popular for the season and display them, and even offer to let your students read them, or read them in class.
Nocturnal Purr-Fection

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