It's a Love Hate Relationship

With Halloween so close it got me thinking about teaching school. I was reminded of the things I loved and hated the most about being a teacher, one being Halloween parties. October was a rather difficult month all around because of parent/teacher conferences and such. Plus, it wasn't the beginning of the year anymore so the review was over and it was time to get into more challenging material. Then to top it off you had Halloween. Here is my list of loves and hates:

Hate:
1. The day after Halloween.
This was always dreadful because the kids were in the most rotten moods. They usually had a sugar crash and were cranky from staying up late the night before. It's best to just take it as an easy going day.

2. Coming up with a last minute Halloween costume 5 year olds would understand.
I never mastered this one. Once I was a mad scientist. The kiddos just liked the crazy hair and didn't know what the test tubes around my neck were. Then I was a girl from the 80's. Again, they were impressed with the hair, and very confused about the rest.

3. School Halloween Carnivals
My school had the student council put together a carnival for the kids. It was a joy for the children and a disaster for the teacher. Keeping track of your class was a nightmare alone, not to mention the sad kids that didn't get a prize or got too scared in the "haunted house".

4. Parent Helpers
Although I am sure many of you are, or once were parent helpers, it is often quite stressful to have parents in the classroom. I am grateful for the parents that helped but it takes a lot of planning to have things ready for them to "help" with.

Love:
1. Singing and teaching fun Halloween songs.
My personal favorites are Witches Brew, Purple People Eater, and freeze dancing to Monster Mash. It is quite hilarious to watch my classes try and sing the words to Purple People Eater!

2. Homemade costumes.
What happened to kids making their own costumes? When I was little part of the fun was to see how other kids created their batman (or whatever) costume. I had a homemade astronaut one year that everyone was mistaking for a robot. The poor little guy was very frustrated.

3. The kids being so surprised when five other little boys from our class were also Power Rangers.
How did they get the same costume as me?


Here alone you can see 4 Power Rangers. Red is by far the coolest!

4. When students came in last year's costume because they either ran out of time or forgot to get a costume.
I had a little boy that was definitely wearing a year old dragon. With shoulders hunched and way too much leg showing he was determined to wear his costume all day.

5. Kids wearing super warm costumes while dancing.
With their bright red cheeks and beads of sweat dripping, they had to stick it out because they didn't bring any clothes to wear under their winter weather costume.

Welp, there you have it. In case you ever plan on being a teacher you now know some things to expect.