OTT 261: When Halloween Takes Over: Keeping Learning Fun (and Focused) in October

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Sugar highs, costume talk, and boundless energy—October's Halloween excitement can quickly derail even the most carefully planned lessons. But this seasonal shift doesn't have to steamroll your learning objectives or your sanity as a teacher.

This episode dives into practical strategies for maintaining classroom stability during the Halloween season. We explore why October presents unique challenges—from increasingly distracted students to disrupted routines and schedules filled with assemblies and special events. Rather than dreading this time, you'll discover how thoughtful preparation can transform your experience.

The key to October success? Strong anchors that keep your classroom steady. Maintaining consistent routines provides the stability students crave, especially those with special needs. Cross-curricular Halloween themes allow you to acknowledge the season while continuing meaningful instruction. And having backup plans ready—whether you need them or not—gives you flexibility when October exhaustion hits.

Most importantly, you'll learn that fun doesn't have to equal chaos. Students don't need elaborate celebrations to enjoy the season; they need engagement. Simple activities like Halloween-themed "Would You Rather" discussions that incorporate movement and opinion writing, spooky STEM challenges, and character analysis through costume themes can create memorable learning experiences without sacrificing classroom management.

Ready to embrace October's energy rather than fight it? Listen for practical ideas to keep learning both fun and focused during the Halloween season. And if you're looking for ready-made resources, check out Trina's TPT store for seasonal activities that maintain educational value while acknowledging students' Halloween excitement.

Halloween Resources

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher, episode 261, when
Halloween takes over.
Keeping learning fun andfocused in October.
I cannot believe that I amtalking about Halloween, but it
is.
This episode comes outSeptember 29th, even though I'm
recording this in August, so itfeels even crazier to be

(00:23):
thinking about it.
But it is around the corner andeverywhere we look, we've
already got Halloweendecorations out.
It's insane.
And actually in this case,we're just, you know, a couple
days away from from October, soit's just crazy.
All right, so I first of all, Iwant to remind you that I would
love for you to join my would wedo not care club.

(00:45):
Teacher chapter on tick tockTrina underscore debris.
I love to hear your we do notcare comments, so message me on
Instagram, message me on ticktock, and I will include them in
the next episode of that.
All right, so that's the firstthing.
So next, after that, we aretalking about heading into

(01:09):
October.
You know what that means Sugarhighs, costume chatter and a
whole lot of classroom energy.
Today we're talking about howto plan ahead.
So October doesn't steamrollyour learning goals or your
sanity.
Hope you stick around.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher and even though she may
need a nap, this teacher isready to wake up and speak her
truth about the trials andtreasures of teaching here.
She is wide awake.
Wait, she's not asleep rightnow, is she?
She is awake right.
Okay, from Trina Debery,teaching and Learning your host,
trina Debery.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hey, all right, this can be a crazy time, but it
doesn't have to be.
And, to tell you right up front, I have a lot of activities on
TPT that you can use in yourclassroom to make learning just
go the extra mile, and they areso fun.
I have a Would you RatherHalloween?
That's a really fun thing to doas a morning meeting every

(02:15):
single day, and then you canhave kids do some opinion
writing.
It's super engaging.
I have lots of books that haveliteracy based activities, as
well as makerspace extensions,and I have STEM challenges, and
I just created a new resourcethat will have been out yet it's

(02:38):
not out yet.
All right, so I'm posting it inSeptember, and so Actually it
is.
Yeah, this is September, it willhave been out, it will already
be out, and it's how to disguisea ghost and it's a really fun
little writing activity aboutcraft.
You're creating a I give you aghost template and you're

(02:59):
creating.
You're letting kids createwhatever they want, like they're
trying to figure out who theirghost is and they're kind of
trying to disguise their ghost.
So it's a really fun thing todo in the classroom and then
there's a little writing thingthat goes with it and there's a
couple of like listening andspeaking activities as well.
And then there's a bulletinboard.

(03:19):
There's bulletin board thingsto put on a bulletin board.
It's such a cute little thing.
I had so much fun making it.
I hope that you love it.
It's such a cute little thing.
I had so much fun making it.
I hope that you love it.
So lots of things if you needit, if you're like I'm out of
time, I just need help, pleasegive me some help.
I would love to help you.
And yeah, all right, let's getstarted.
So what makes October hard?

(03:40):
Oh gosh, what makes it hard?
The kids are distracted.
The behavior starts to get alittle spicy.
We might have to remember someof our routines and our
procedures and they might needto be practiced again.
And that's okay.
Everyone's schedule is weird.
We've got assemblies, firstpitchers, we've got full moons,
we've got all the things.

(04:01):
It's like full on.
You're in school now, full ongoing along, but there's like
some disruptions that tend tohappen in October.
It's fun.
It's so fun, but it is soexhausting.
A little pre-planning now cantotally change how the next few
weeks feel.
That's why I wanted to get thisout early, so you had as much

(04:25):
opportunity to prepare forOctober as possible, all right.
So anchors that keep thingssteady.
Here are a few October anchorsthat have helped me in the past.
Number one this is so, soimportant Keep your routines

(04:46):
strong.
You want to have your routines.
Kids thrive on predictabilityand consistency.
It is very crucial, especiallyfor some of your kids with
special needs.
They need this consistency.
Your reading block, yourmorning meeting, your cleanup
systems you got to stick withthem.

(05:07):
Kids need that stability.
The second anchor is to usecross-curricular themes.
Bring Halloween into yourread-alouds, bring STEM and
writing prompts so you can feelfun and productive and, like I
said, I have that stuff for you.
So if you you need it, you needa little creativity, then have

(05:31):
at it.
Prep a backup plan, even ifyou're not taking time off.
Have sub plans ready.
It is a gift to your futureself, trust me, and I also have
October Halloween plans.
So, if you're a secondaryteacher, I've done that for you,
I have it all ready to go andit does have October Halloween
plans.
So, if you're a secondaryteacher, I've done that for you,
I have it all ready to go andit does have a Halloween.

(05:53):
You know October theme.
Feel so the kids are engagedand still practicing skills,
skills that are appropriate forOctober.
And you don't have to be.
You don't have to worry.
It's five days of plans too, soif you need a whole week off in
October, then you take it.
That's why I created theseflexible set of sub plans, so

(06:16):
that they can work with prettymuch any book, and that is that
makes it really helpful.
And then you know that you'll.
You can have your day toregroup or your week if you need
it.
All right, fun doesn't have tomean chaos.
Let me say that again.
Fun doesn't have to mean chaos.

(06:37):
Here's a trick.
Kids don't need over-the-topactivities to have fun.
They need engagement.
A spooky story followed by acreative STEM challenge.
That works wonders.
Halloween themed would yourather writing?
Warm up, so fun, so engagingand also can lead to writing.
And that can be.

(06:58):
And if you want to make it likea full body experience, a fun
thing to do is to post, you knowthe would you rather Halloween
theme and then have the twochoices as two different sides
of the room.
So if you would rather do youknow where be a ghost for
Halloween, you're going to gostand on this side of the room.
If you would rather be a HarryPotter for Halloween, you're

(07:23):
going to go stand on this sideof the room and then you let
kids get up and move to theirchoice and then, while they're
there and their choice, they'regoing to go stand on this side
of the room and then you letkids get up and move to their
choice and then, while they'rethere, in their choice, they're
going to turn to either apartner or they can do like a
round.
You know round, I don't knowwhat it's called Round Robin.
No, because they're I don'tknow.
Let's just they can go aroundin the group and they can share

(07:44):
why they would rather do thatand they can justify their
reasons.
You know, we don't want them tojust be like I would rather be a
ghost period.
We want them to be like I wouldrather be a ghost because it's
an easy costume to put together.
It can be spooky.
I want to make a scary face onthe, on the ghost, whatever it.
You know we want to hear theirresponses and then then they can

(08:07):
share out a few, you know, withthe class and you can actually
get some like pros and cons ofeither side and how they feel.
So that can just be a reallylike, and then they've gotten up
in their mood, and then you letthem go back to their seats.
So so it's.
You know, that's one way ofadding some movement to that
activity and I do have aHalloween, would you rather?

(08:28):
So you can grab that too.
A costume theme, characteranalysis or descriptive writing
piece is another really powerfulway of using, using, you know,
the holiday to kind of capturethem.
And I do have a little readercalled the, the hollow or the
what is it called?
The costume contest.

(08:48):
It's really fun, and that's inmy shop too.
I'm not trying to give you allthese resources, it's just
things that I'm thinking of,that I've done or used or
created for teachers, and so I'mjust like, oh, this might help.
It's the vibe, not the sugar,that makes it memorable.
So if you are looking forsomething like that, then you

(09:10):
can grab whatever you need.
You don't have to dread October.
You just need a plan andpermission.
To simplify, let it be fun, letit be focused, let it be yours
next time.
Until next time, sweet dreamsand sleep tight.