Tardy to the Halloween Party! {updated freebie}

Oh, this little blog of mine has been woefully neglected lately. I think it's partly because I tend to put off writing a post until I have some grand idea with a billion artfully staged pictures. And then that never happens and then way too much time passes between blog posts. So a great idea that someone might like never even gets posted at all. Well, I'm hoping to change that a bit. I don't teach in a Pinterest-perfect classroom, so to hold off posting until it looks like I do is a little crazy, right?

I've actually been giving myself a lot of slack lately. In the past if something bubbled during lamination, was cut crooked, or wasn't "just so", I'd find myself re-doing it. I would laminate everything. Like EVERY. THING. It's like I was protecting all my classroom materials from some infectious disease. Ok, I know I work with little walking germ factories, but was the lamination going to save us from doom? Nope. Maybe everything didn't need a shrink wrap haz-mat suit after all. So if it's something I'm using once, like a scoot game, scavenger hunt, pocket chart activity, or bulletin board title, it gets a lamination pass. It feels a little naughty at first. A little wrong. You know what else it feels like?  It feels like freedom, people! It feels like time saved. It feels smart.  And I can definitely use my materials again next year, even without the lamination. But the way things change in this profession, I keep finding that I what I use from year to year changes anyway! {But that's a whole 'nother post}

I'm hoping from this point on to post a little more frequently. Maybe a little more imperfectly. Which may turn out to be a little more honestly. So, who wants to join me in celebration of imperfection? Let's just be real, right? <end rant/step off soapbox>

Moving on...

In the "just in the nick of time" category, I updated my free jack o'lantern glyph with a little writing extension and it came out so cute! We are paired up with a 5th grade class for book buddies. Once a month we meet, read a little, and usually complete some type of activity together. This month we used the glyph and it was perfect. The fifth graders helped my kids make the glyph and then guided them through writing a little Halloween autobiography.

At the time, we just wrote on index cards, which was fine. But then we ended up leaving our projects with our buddies to hang in their hallway, which bummed out my kids a little. Honestly, it bummed me out too because it had a naked bulletin board that was the perfect spot to hang them!

So, the next day, I had my kids make the glyph again. It was a much faster experience this time because they had a little practice. Just to change it up a little, I tweaked the objects on the glyph a bit and I added a writing extension page.  This time I had the kids switch glyphs and write about each other using the glyph as a guide. Then we mounted it on black paper. Super cute!

I know it's getting down to the wire for Halloween projects, but this is something that can easily be done in one day. Or in my case, once a day for two days! lol! Get the glyph with the writing extension for free here!

We also finished up our storybook pumpkin character based on Crazy Hair Day. I think he came out awesome! My room moms painted the pumpkin head and then each kid got a popsicle stick and some pipe cleaners, feathers, markers, and other random craft objects. Then the moms helped give the pumpkin some hair implants. One talented mom made the body for us. I love him!

We're almost at the end of Halloween week. Hang tight my friends and say a prayer of thankfulness that Halloween is on a FRIDAY! Yahoo!