Happy Halloween!

It is finally here! Halloween! Halloween has to be one of the favorite holidays of childhood. Seriously, How often do you get to dress up in your favorite costume and go outside at night to collect candy? It is the best!

Children start talking about Halloween in August and are still talking about it in January. Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays and the other fun days are sandwiched in there, but none of them compare to Halloween.

Little Reminder: With all of the excitement in the air, be sure to start early enough to feed your children something easy but with some nutritional substance. Once the doorbell rings, dinnertime is a lost cause. Everyone wants to be outside trick or treating. Order pizza, make spaghetti, your favorite sandwiches, soup, etc. The key is to make something your child will be sure to eat. After all, he soon will be coming home with a bucket full of candy. After Trick or Treating, have popcorn, pumpkin seeds or something sugar free to snack on while sorting the candy. This will kind of cut the desire to gorge on the sweets. (Wishful thinking.)

TEACHING TIPS:

1. A fun game is to sort the candy by the brand, size, type (chocolate, hard candy, gum, etc).
2. The next day you can even graph them by size, quantity, color, etc. Try gluing the wrappers to the graph! Each time a candy is eaten...send them to the graph to glue it in the appropriate column! The more sensory the better!
3. Be sure to sneak some of your favorites for a Mommy snack in the closet :) (Not really a tip just important to remember!)
4. The younger ones can use the wrappers to create a candy collage. There is lots of environmental print on those candy labels. When they read the labels mention to them "You can read!" or challenge them "Where is the Snicker's wrapper?" "Where are the M&M's?" Go deeper...."How do you know that is Snicker's?" You will be surprised!!

Looking Ahead:

Save your Jack O Lantern and any other pumpkins or gourds you might have for some fun activities next week on the blog.

Last But not Least: BE SAFE and HAVE FUN!!!!

Happy Halloween!

~Rita

Two More Blog Contributors!

Susan Van Sickle:

Hey there! I'm Suzie (Baitland) Van Sickle! I married into this awesome teaching family! The moment I found out that Brandon's mom and sister were both teachers, I knew he understood what he was getting into when marrying me. We married in 2007, (2 weeks after Sarah and John), and have been living in Spring, Texas ever since. Needless to say, this family just goes with the flow!

I grew up in Sugar Land, Texas. My mom and sister are both teachers too... so it's kinda in our blood! I taught for 7 years before becoming a stay at home mommy to my two precious TWINS! Yes, I am that crazy twin lady, but I wouldn't want my life any other way. My background is in Early Childhood Education, and I have a masters in Educational Leadership. I taught kinder for 5 years and second grade for 2 years. I plan on going back to education one day!

I don't get a paycheck or have a quarterly bonus, but I take what I do each day like a job. A really fun job! Each day the boys bring new joy to our house, and I just hope we can share a little bit of fun along the way!

Sarah McCoy:

I'm Sarah (Van Sickle) McCoy...see a trend here? Growing up with a mom like mine, learning was something that happened so naturally. She had a way of taking something we were interested in and creating an atmosphere of fun around it. What I didn't know at the time was that through all of this fun, I was learning. What I did know was that it was fun to be creative and so I began to teach at young age. I taught my little brother, my friends, little kiddos in the Church Nursery, and children I babysat whether they wanted to be taught or not! :) I caught the teaching bug and there was no way around it!

I married John over three years ago and the adventures began! We now have a son, Carter, dog named Lucy and live in China (the country, not China, Texas)! Before becoming a mommy, I was a teacher. I taught Pre-K, First Grade and PYP Reading/Writing in Norway.

Mommy-hood is so special! I love every bit of spending time with my little Carter-Bear. However, this is not at all the "Mommy-hood" I imagined growing up. Living abroad is such a great experience in many ways but it can be challenging as well. We don't have a backyard, a front yard, a playroom and in fact, Carter sleeps in our storage room. We don't have a car, Hobby Lobby, Target or other simple conveniences that fit into my early dreams of mommy-hood. Needless to say, I've had to be a bit more creative in giving Carter all the experiences I want for him. I hope to share some of these experiences to help grow the teacher in you!

Pumpkin 'Bumkin' Prints

I think I was too embarrassed to post this last year.
But apparently, I don't care now.
So, I will share my favorite Fall decoration we have up in our house!

Sarah actually found this idea and shared it with me. I was just brave enough to have a play date at our house with a friend who would not find this activity strange.

Luke & Hudson's Bumkins.

Our Playdate's Bumpkin!

And this is Carter's 8 month Bum....

We LOVE those Bumpkins!!!

Suzie

(Luke, Hudson and Carter....12 months & 8 months.)