Happy Halloween

From a (happily) Retired Teacher

It’s that time of year again. Pumpkin carving, trick-or-treaters, classroom parties. Being retired, I no longer have to plan and take part in classroom Halloween activities. But I’ve experienced my share of them during my 37 year career as a kindergarten, first-grade, and fourth-grade teacher. Here are my Ghosts of Halloween past:

Kindergarten

I started my teaching career as a kindergarten teacher in 1975. During that time kindergarten was a half-day program in public schools, if they even offered it at all. In one sense, the half-day time frame was a great setup for Halloween. The students came to school dressed in costume and we played some games (Guess who’s under the mask, Halloween Bingo, maybe a simple art activity.)  A school-wide parade would follow. Kindergarteners always led the way, and we picked up the other-grade classes as we wound our way around the school. By the end of the morning, we had a snack… brought in by parents, homemade, and extra sugary. If you were lucky enough to reserve one of the school’s projectors, you could end the session with the Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin. By then, it was time to send the little goblins home on a sugar high for the parents to deal with.

Half-day Kindergarten teachers had one disadvantage, however. After a quick lunch break, during which I had to clean up the classroom and reset my activities, I had to get ready to party all over again with the afternoon session, pretending that I was equally enthused the second time around. 

First Grade

Sometime during my years as a first grade teacher, things began to change. The first wave of social consciousness and health awareness hit the school scene and altered our holiday celebrations. Some parents objected to Halloween on religious grounds and did not want their children to dress up in objectionable costumes such as witches or devils. In some years, we banned the word “Halloween” and called the celebration at the end of October “Harvest Festival”. Students could dress in costume if they came as a book character. (“But Mrs. VanDeventer…. Spiderman is in a book!”)

 School officials wanted to focus on health. Sugary treats were banned in favor of “healthy snacks” and teachers scrambled to come up with ways to make carrot sticks and cheese look like fun. (I remember making spiders out of Ritz Cracker-and-peanutbutter bodies with pretzel-stick legs and raisin eyes. Yum..)

Fourth Grade

During my last three years of teaching as a fourth-grade teacher, Halloween was back and costumes were allowed. However, you had many, many state standards to cover and couldn’t afford to “take a day off” to party. Movies were not allowed unless there was a specific ‘tie-in” with the curriculum. Sorry Charlie (Brown.)My teaching team and I came up with what I thought was a great idea. Each of the 4 teachers created a standard-based, Halloween-themed activity in Language Arts, Math, Science, or Writing. The students rotated through the classrooms throughout the day, keeping everyone engaged until the end-of-the-day snack. Unhealthy treats were allowed in moderation… except now everyone has allergies. No peanuts, gluten, dairy, tree nuts…..

Retired

It’s fun to think about those days and sometimes, I really do miss the kids, the excitement, the fun. But now I’m happy to say that I celebrate Halloween with pictures of my grandchildren in their costumes and by sitting in my driveway on a warm Arizona night handing out candy to the neighborhood kids.

( I hold back a few of the snickers to eat while I’m watching The Great Pumpkin from the comfort of my own living room.)