Brain Ninjas

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halloween activities

The Best Scary Halloween Books for Your Classroom Library

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A skull looks over a pile of books. Are you looking for some scary Halloween books for your upper elementary classroom library? We've collected titles of great Halloween books from our students and update our list all the time. Come have a read!

Whether you’re creating a Halloween-themed classroom library or planning some eerie read-alouds, these titles deliver thrills, chills, and laughs. Many are proudly written or illustrated by Canadian talent. We love to share scary books all year. Our students ask for them. Many of them want to read a haunted story or something that is a little creepy. You don’t have to read scary Halloween books at Halloween, but that is part of the fun.

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How to Teach Types of Sentences and Fix Punctuation Problems

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When students understand how punctuation can change an author's intent, they get better at using the correct punctuation in their own writing. They also learn to properly express the author's intent and read properly with the correct tone. Come learn about a lesson we use to help students learn about the dfferent types of sentences in our upper elementary language arts class.

Often when the school year starts, we do a few different writing activities to get a sense of how well students can (or cannot) write. One of the things we continually see is the lack of conventions regardless of whether students write by hand or type it into a device. We found that a simple lesson around the different types of sentences changed many of the punctuation problems. Come read about the lesson and get some ideas for your classroom.

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How to Celebrate Halloween In the Classroom

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A boy is dressed up as a doctor. Are you looking for ways to celebrate Halloween in your upper elementary classroom? We gathered up some of our students' favourite activities for you to try. Come take a look!

Halloween is such a special time for many students. In past years, we’ve had parades and assemblies and handed out candy. There was a time when bobbing for apples was a good idea. Now, since the pandemic, the thought of countless students scrambling to bite into an apple floating around in a tub full of mouth germs…ugg.

Our classroom is usually bustling with parent volunteers who help out at different Halloween-themed stations. Still, some years, there might not be as many parent volunteers available as you need, so it’s nice to have easy alternatives in your back pocket.

If your school and students are celebrating Halloween, here are some generally easy ways to have a little fun.

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