Fall is officially in the air! I love this time of year! Give me all of the pumpkin spice and cozy sweaters. October can be a crazy time in the classroom. I love incorporating some fun Halloween classroom activities that fit in with our daily routines, but also add some extra engagement! Here are some of my favorite Halloween Classroom Activities!
Make sure you read to the bottom for some fun Halloween Freebies!
Halloween Solve the Room
Solve the Room is one of our favorite math center routines in my first grade classroom! Each week, one of our math center tubs that students visit is Solve the Room.
I tape a new set of math task cards around the classroom. When students visit this center, they grab a clipboard and a recording sheet and walk around the classroom solving the math problems. After they finish, they visit the Grading Station and check their work! Read more about how I run math centers in first grade here!
Click Your Grade Level to find October Solve the Room!
Brewing Consonant Blends
Want to add some engagement to your phonics lesson? I love using post-it notes for interactive anchor charts! It makes it so easy to re-use each year. This Brewing Consonant Blends anchor chart is perfect for introducing or reviewing any of the consonant blends!
Add the consonants to the cauldrons together and practice making sounds and blending them together. Then, have students help sort the words that feature the different blends.
Halloween No Prep Math Pages
These No Prep math worksheets are PERFECT for some spooky morning work, independent work, or math folders! The skills and concepts are perfect for first graders and each page has a fun Halloween joke the kids LOVE!
Halloween Numberless Word Problems
I have found that students need daily practice with solving word problems in order to become independent problem solvers. I needed a way to practice every day without it becoming repetitive or boring for my first graders. They absolutely love these fun, seasonal story problems and are SO excited to see what happens in the new word problem each day.
Numberless Word Problems are an amazing tool for helping your students develop problem solving skills! PLUS they are an easy way to differentiate word problems to meet the needs of all of your students!
We use these numberless word problems as a daily math warm up.
- I display the problem (without numbers) on the smart board
- We read the problem together (usually I read first then we choral read)
- I give students think time and we go over the Problem Solving Questions (Poster Included)
- Students discuss with their math partner through a Turn and Talk
- We discuss what is happening in the problem and strategies that we could use to solve.
- Finally I switch to the slide with numbers in the problem and give students time to solve on dry erase boards or their student work page.
- Students share their strategies for solving.
Find the October Numberless Word Problem Pack here!
Spooky Story Elements (FREEBIE!)
Get spooky with this story elements graphic organizer! I love using Halloween read alouds to learn about story elements. In my classroom we work on story elements together using an anchor chart. After learning about characters, setting, problem, and solution, the students independently complete this page. Find the freebie here!
Fall Color by Code
Who doesn’t love Color By Code?! They are a FAVORITE in first grade for working on developing addition and subtraction fact fluency! These fun, fall Color by Code pages are differentiated to meet the needs of all of your learners! Each Fall pictures includes 3 levels so all students can be successful!
You can find Fall Addition and Subtraction Color by Code here!
October No Prep Crafts FREEBIES!
These Writing Crafts are the best for an easy, no prep Fun Friday activity! (or anytime you need a little break to sip your coffee 😉) I love how simple they are for my first graders to work on independently! Plus they look adorable on a Fall bulletin board! Find them here!
Halloween Gift Tag Freebie
Glow sticks are my favorite treat for students on Halloween! You can buy them in bulk on Amazon and use them year after year! Here’s a little gift tag freebie! 💜🌟
I hope these Halloween classroom activities and ideas are helpful for getting your planning done this October in your first grade classroom!