I'm Hallo-worn out

Happy Halloween!  

Photo compliments of my 4th grade photographers.

Moment of Truth:  This is one of my least favorite holidays to be a teacher, closely followed by April Fool's Day.  Hopefully I was hiding it well as Batman.  My kids have been asking all week what I was going to dress up as.  I just had my hair dyed darker last week (my hair girl got a little carried away...), so they all thought I dyed my hair black for Halloween.  Their guesses were: 

A witch.  "Because your hair is black now!"

Katy Perry.  "Because your hair is black and looks like hers!"

But my favorite comment came the first morning I came in with black hair- "Bad hair day?"  Sigh.  You're killing me, children.  I laughed so hard.  "Nope, just a hair day!"

So, Halloween.  I'm exhausted.  My students were really great in the morning, and were good sports since I made them do actual work ("But it's Halloween!"  "Too bad, there are only 33 days in this quarter and Miss B is feeling the pressure.")  Tough cookies, kiddos.  We paraded around the school in our costumes and did manage to do a few Halloween themed activities.  Then we partied, and Miss B got to clean up!

The one part of this holiday that I do like is our Annual 4th Grade "Great Pumpkin" Pumpkin Decorating Contest.  It's a mouthful.  This was our 7th annual event.  At least I think it was.  The thing about annual events is that you have to remember how many you've done before.  

The kids get a small pumpkin to take home and decorate.  The whole 4th grade votes on their favorite in each class and we had two winners per room.  After school, the pumpkins are taken to the retirement home in the neighborhood and set up as a display for Halloween morning.  Each resident picks their favorite to take back and decorate their room.  I love this project.  

Here are a few of our creations this year:

Our winners this year were SpongeBob and the snowman.  

I hope you all survived your Halloween festivities!

Happy Teaching!