Tag Archives: Halloween

Spooky Halloween Houses!

Halloween Victorian Mansions on PhotoPeach

Don’t go in alone!

These haunted houses were inspired by the work done here and here. We took a look at the features of Victorian homes: asymmetry in structure, a focal point front door, turrets and towers, bay windows, iron railings, roofs made of slate, brick or shingle siding, sash windows, and tell-tale gingerbread woodwork on roof peaks, porch corners, and around doors.

We sketched in pencil first, then went over the drawings with a Sharpie. The backgrounds were done using oil pastels for the ground and moon, followed by a two colour-wash of water colour paint. For detailed instructions, check out Tyler’s post or Abbie’s post.

The results….
  Spoooky!

The music, Night on Bald Mountain by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, adds to the drama, I think!

What do you notice about these houses? Do you like the music or would you have chosen something different?  Have you done any Halloween art this year? If so, leave a comment with your blog address and we will come and take a look.

We Need a (Pumpkin) Hero!

Just before Halloween, I presented my students with our first Destination Imagination instant challenge of the year:

Challenge:    Carve a pumpkin and use it as a character in a performance.

Scenario: Your team will come up with a pumpkin design that represents a new super hero—a hero that helps people in our school community with a pressing issue.

During a DI challenge we use and develop the following core skills:

   Critical Thinking
  • Identify and clarify problems.
  • Ask questions.
  • Plan and manage time and responsibilities.
  • Explore a variety of solutions.
  • Analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate information.
   Communication
  • Use various media and technologies in different ways.
  • Share ideas and information to solve problems.
  • Listen carefully and respectfully to the ideas of others.
  • Follow directions.
  • Encourage others to expand their ideas.
   Creativity
  • Use strategies, such as brainstorming, to generate ideas with the group.
  • Apply prior knowledge to develop new ideas.
  • Experiment with different solutions.
   Collaboration
  • Take an active part in the challenge.
  • Be flexible and willing to compromise.
  • Share responsibility for completing the task.
  • Learn from other group members.

Students attacked the challenge with enthusiasm as you can see in the video below. We laughed a lot during the skits!

Huzzahnians, think back on this challenge and your group’s efforts. Describe the hero you created. Using the language of the four C’s, above, what were your strengths? Use specific examples from the challenge. What is a next step to work on to develop your skills. What suggestions do you have for me as a teacher to help you learn and grow at critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication?

Blog visitors, have you ever done a DI challenge? If so tell us about it. If not, what ways do you use creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication in your life and learning?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Who had fun on Halloween?

We did!

Halloween is a big favourite in our class. We like the candy, for sure, but we seem to love the costumes more. There was a lot of variety this year and scads of creativity. Notice the homemade costumes and the great ideas for enjoying this spooktacular day.

Did you dress up on Halloween? What costume did you wear? Any funny or spooky stories to share? Maybe you did something different this year…ask Tristan what he did. He says he knows he got less candy than you…find out why. Thanks for visiting!

Monster Madness

For a little Halloween fun, we sought out the creative inspiration of graphic artist Stefan G. Bucher. Several years ago he shared his imagination and talent with the world by creating The Daily Monster. He filmed the process and invited people to make their own. A simple process with infinite variation.

You see it in high speed in his videos, but the video below shows how much time and care he takes in the process.

So, we had to make our own! Stay tuned for stories about these monsters on our student blogs.

Do you find these monsters scary? Funny? Silly? Let us know!

Halloween Leftovers

How’s your candy bag? Are you done yet? It’s been over a week, I am curious if you have found the bottom of the bag yet. Or are you still rationing?

Huzzahnians, I still remember the fun we had during our Howlin’ Halloween Happening. Here’s a reminder of the fun we had. Thanks again to Andrea, Jean, and Shari–as well as those who supplied treats–for helping us have a great afternoon.

‘Tis the (Halloween) Season

This post is written by Mr. Carmichael (Yes, that Mr. Carmichael!) over at Building Blocks. You’ll soon find a similar post at Mrs. Braidwood’s Ripple Effect and Mr. Ferneyhough’s Chili Sauce, too. Huzzahnians, I will be sending you to these blogs to comment and connect with our Valley neighbours. Visitors, please feel free to comment here or visit the blogs above and spread the blog luv around!

Do we just want to have fun? Or are we greedy?

Do we just want to have fun? Or are we greedy?

Halloween is this weekend. Regina’s Leader Post has some interesting information in its article.

  • Americans are prepared to spend $5.8 billion dollars on Halloween this year.
  • Two out of every five Americans are planning on wearing a costume this year.
  • The money will be spent on candy, decorations, and costumes for adults, children, and pets.
  • The average American will spend $66.28 on Halloween this year, even during these tough economic times.
  • This makes Halloween the second biggest money generator for Canadian and American businesses.  Halloween follows behind Christmas and leads Back to School for most money spent.

This raises some interesting questions for you to ponder….

Do these statistics surprise you? What do our spending habits around Halloween say about us as a culture?

Are you looking forward to Halloween? What has been your very best costume?  What is your favourite candy treat?  Do you eat your candy all at once or do you ration it, only eating a few pieces of candy a day?

Looking forward to your spooktacular comments!

Image: Candy Domo by matoutah