halloween activities

Any ideas for high-school english teachers for halloween activities?

What we did in our class was get a sheet of paper and number to 26. ( there should be at least 26 people ) and the teacher goes up and down the rows asking for one thing to be on halloween starting with each letter of the alphabet. So for example, the first person would say any type of costume that starts with "A" and the next person, "B" and so on. They can get as crazy as they want but making the costume they choose, something that a person would actually wear.

Hope its not confusing and that you have fun with whatever you do!! ^^

im having some friends over for halloween and i would like to do something different but frighting

haunted houses
corn maze
scary movies at home
scare kids when they come up to the door
go see a scary movie
tell eachother creepy stories in the dark

i want to have something called "harvest fest" for the kids at my church. this would be for kids under the age of 12. i want it to be held the saturday before halloween. i dont want to say we are celebrating halloween even though i know it’s not an evil holiday or whatever, but people at my church will think so.
anyhow, i cant think of any fun activities for the kids to do. can you give me some ideas, please?

well at my church we have what is called a "trunk or treat" members of the church come to the parking lot and decorate their cars and pass out candy. The kids dress up and "trunk or treat". It’s a safe alternative to trick or treating, and it’s held outside of the church so as not to be disrespectful. But if you want to shy away from anything halloween, you can do mini pumpkin painting. The kids can paint those little pumpkins with craft paint- you can play your traditional games like donut on string and things (have to eat the donut with hands behind there back) -you can have the decorate fall shaped sugar cookies- you can have them carve pumpkins and bring them to be judged- just have them not be halloween themes. -have someone dress up as a scarecrow and take pictures with the kids on a barrel of hay. Take the kids for rides in a radio flyer- or if you can arrange for pony rides or something like that!

Everyone approaches homeschooling with a different perspective. Some approach it with fear and trepidation; others with excitement and enthusiasm; others feel backed into a corner with no other options; and still others look forward to homeschooling as a way to invest more into their children.

Examine each point carefully and look honestly at yourself and your teaching style. Not every mistake will apply to you—that will depend on your personality and approach—but all can easily occur without warning!

1.Over Scheduling

I will never forget my first year of homeschooling. My children were involved in art classes, gymnastics, classes at the zoo, science center classes, chorus, piano lessons, physical education classes, and community sports. On the one day per week that we did not have scheduled events, we would get together with fellow homeschooling families for field trips, writing classes (which I taught), and/or just for a fun time.

I have never been so frazzled in my life! We would cram in our studies in the morning, then load up the car to head out to our daily routine.

I can’t remember who burned out first—the kids or me, but I do know we burned out. Soon those creative moments of science experiments, creative writing fun, and history projects were a thing of the past and we became a slave to our activities schedule.

The key: limit yourself to one or two activities at a time and make schooling a priority. When you have more time to commit at home, schooling can become much more enjoyable!

2.Under Scheduling

Over scheduling can be a nightmare, but under-scheduling can also have its detriments. Kids need variety and opportunities to be with others their own age. There are so many learning opportunities out there!

Find what activities work for your family and take advantage of them. There are many opportunities out there through local museums, art schools, YMCAs, support groups, colleges, churches, and historical sites.

A great idea that worked for us was to get together with several other homeschooling families and plan out a year’s worth of field trips—one per month. We then assigned one to each parent to organize, picked the dates (which we all reserved), and looked forward to our once a month outing. On occasion, we would also get together at a local playground or state park for another day of fun or learning.

This smaller network allowed us to support each other on a more personal basis and to feel free to call on another when we needed encouragement or ideas.

3.Unrealistic Expectations

It is so easy to fall into the trap of unrealistic expectations. I have met many a homeschool Mom who was upset because her three-year old was not reading yet or because her sixth grade son was not succeeding in Algebra I. I have watched as families tackle huge projects trying to cram a whole year of World History into one quarter and plan a World History Fair to culminate the experience. These are the same parents and kids who are burned out by Christmas and struggling to make it through each day!

One the other hand, I have also seen families who decide to home school with no direction, no formal home school curriculum, and no real goals in mind.

Students will live up to your expectations and if none exist, they will quickly adapt and really enjoy themselves for a time. However, by Halloween, kids long for the structure of school and parents are thinking that the ghosts and ghouls knocking on their door look much more appealing than their bored and antsy children.

The individualized instruction that homeschooling provides opens up the door for students to master concepts much quicker than in a classroom full of distractions. However, it also makes it very easy to coast through the year without really accomplishing anything.

The answer to this struggle is planning.

4.A Disorganized School Room

There is nothing more frustrating than the inability to put your fingers on what you need when you need it. This is especially true when you are trying to keep your children current with their schoolwork.

The inability to find a pencil, a working eraser, a textbook or workbook, dictionary, calculator . . . . you get the picture. These are all extremely frustrating and when piled up can make for a very difficult start to a day.

I recommend you commit an entire day at the beginning of the school year to organizing your home school room. Engage your children in the task—let them decide how to organize their supplies.

Store away your teacher’s guides and answer keys—preferably in a file drawer so they are always at your fingertips and organize the curriculum in a sequence that makes sense.

The more time you devote ahead of time to organizing, the less wasted time throughout the school year searching for items you know “are around here somewhere!”

5.Avoiding Breaks to Allow for a Shorter Day

This is a biggie! We all do it—it seems like such a wonderful thing to tell our kids. “Hey, if you can just get this all done this morning, we will have all afternoon with no school!” Guess what? Across the board, homeschooling kids are saying, “We’d rather have a break!”

Let me share some personal experiences. I am ashamed to say, I fell into this one very badly my first year of homeschooling. At the beginning of the school year, I was really good about taking breaks—even heading outside with my children to play baseball, catch, soccer, volleyball, tag . . . you name it. My favorite time for one of these breaks was when one of the kids was struggling, grumpy or looking tired, or when I found myself overwhelmed with the mess around me.

I would announce, “RECESS TIME!” and we would head outside for a good 20 minutes of fun. It never ceased to amaze me how easy it was to get back to a difficult task after a quick breather.

Suddenly, it was essential for my kids to finish up their work in the morning so we could have the afternoon free and breaks became a thing of the past.

I never realized just how frustrating this must have been for my kids until a recent homeschool graduate put it on her top ten list. Sure enough, my kids hated it! To them the tradeoff was not worth it. A “free” afternoon after a grueling morning was not of value to them.

To avoid this one: schedule regular breaks and take them whether you think you need them or not and be sure to spend at least one break enjoying your kids!

In the end a more relaxed longer day is better than a crammed short day any day!

6.Becoming a Slave to Your Home School Curriculum

Another big mistake I made my first year of homeschooling was to allow my curriculum to drive me. Even on days when it was obvious that my kids just weren’t getting it, I would push them to complete the assignments we had determined were appropriate for that day.

When I finally learned to back off, our homeschooling became much more effective. On days when my fifth grader just could not quite figure out how to reduce fractions to the lowest common denominator, we would take a break and move on to something else. Although in some cases, we did not even return to math that day, more often than not, we found that waiting until the evening when the hustle and bustle of the day was over worked much better! At that time, she could sit down and breeze through the math concepts that were impossible just a few hours earlier.

In some cases, you may need to abandon an entire course and try a different approach. Now, don’t be too quick to make this decision—too many of these decisions can be costly. Take the time to really evaluate whether it is the homeschool curriculum or your misuse of it that is causing the struggle.

Sometimes it just takes a fresh look or slowing down a little to make a course work better for you. But if you find that something just does not work, don’t be afraid to set it aside or pass it on to someone else.

On the other hand, don’t make the mistake of rushing your children through a study that they are passionate about! Take the time to allow them to pursue it further.

Bottom line: watch and learn from your kids and adapt as necessary. Don’t become a slave to your home school curriculum.

7.Doing it Alone

So many homeschooling Moms try to do it alone. Once the curriculum decisions have been made and the curriculum is in their hands, they begin the process of schooling . . . on their own.

Sometimes pride keeps them from asking for advice when things get tough; sometimes just the overwhelming task of schooling the children makes it difficult to seek out socialization opportunities; sometimes, it is the misperception that “That is the way it is for homeschoolers.”

This is a huge danger! Irrevocably, Moms who try to do it alone become frustrated and very lonely. Do you find yourself keeping the telemarketer on the phone as long as you possibly can? Does your UPS man find it difficult to escape from your front door after delivering a package? YOU NEED SOCIALIZATION!

IT is just as important for you as it is for your kids.

Socialization for a homeschooling Mom means a sounding board for ideas, advice from those who have been through it before, friendships that allow us to be ourselves, an easy way to share or access information and ideas, a terrific venue to pass on newly discovered educational events or opportunities . . . all absolutely necessary for Moms who are investing so much into their children.

Support groups, homeschool publications, seminars, homeschool conferences, memberships, classes . . . all of these are terrific ways for homeschooling families to socialize with other children and adults.

Don’t ignore this! This will make or break your homeschooling endeavors.

8.Super Mom Syndrome

This was probably the most difficult part of homeschooling for me. Days when my friends would say, “Walking into your home is like walking into an Ethan Allen Showroom” were long gone.

Trying to keep those same standards is like trying to rake leaves into a pile in the middle of a tornado.

Face it: your home will never be the same. Your meals will not always be healthy, your errands will not always be run, your bills may be late, and your bathrooms may not always sparkle.

But take a deep breath and remember:

1. You live in your house all day

2. Your kids are in your house all day

3. You school in your house

4. You use your walls as a display for charts, projects, lessons, maps, time lines, motivations, and more.

5. You do not have a large classroom to keep all of your studies in—books and educational materials will naturally take over your home.

6. You use your desk for more than paying bills, checking e-mail, and surfing the net.

If you are going to survive this homeschooling experience, you must learn to lower your standards!

9.Ignoring the Input of your Children

It is so easy to get so wrapped up in your plans and ideas that you forget to check with your children. This can be especially challenging for Moms who were teachers or who served in a managerial role. Part of the beauty of homeschooling is that it can be a two way street.

You set up the boundaries, then, allow your kids some freedom within those boundaries.

Your willingness to bounce ideas off of your kids and to really consider their input will mean so much to them . . . and you might be surprised at what they come up with!

10.Fear of the Internet

Let’s face it—the Internet can be dangerous! There is so much out there that we do not want our children to see and so many people out there we do not want them to meet!

However, there is also a wealth of information out there that is absolutely invaluable to any homeschooling program. From educational and interactive games, to live cam pictures of our solar system, the possibilities are endless.

And if you know where to go, you can tap into homeschool resources and instruction that will never run dry!

David Kidd
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/attention-parents-do-you-make-these-ten-mistakes-in-homeschooling-free-report-reveals-how-to-avoid-them-72398.html

Please no one complaining how pets can’t understand Halloween or anything like that, if you don’t have anything constructive don’t waste your time.

Buy little pumpkin buckets for them and fill them with cat/dog treats & their favorite wet food.

Watch scary movies. You eat your candies & they have theirs.

“Efficiency is the ability to get maximum results at minimum
cost in money, time or effort.

It is so rare a quality that the man who has it need fear no
competition.

Men waste more effort than they utilize in nearly every under-
taking. Often ten times as much.

They spend countless working hours on trifles, unworthy of their
caliber. They have no schedules. They fritter time away.

Rare is the man doing half what he could if he corrected this
evil of waste.”

– Claude Hopkins ——————— For many years,
companies have been using efficiency experts to help them reduce
wasted movements and activities, and stream line their work.
Computers have given us vast resources to improve our daily
efficiency both at work and at home. Then there is
CommonSenseLiving.com that brings efficiency into your home life
with ebooks such as Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak
(http://CleanFreak.CommonSenseLiving.com) that shows you how to
get your housework done efficiently. Remember the definition
from Claude Hopkins above – “Efficiency is the ability to get
maximum results at minimum cost in money, time or effort.” No
suffering required.

Getting a Thin Attitude
(http://ThinAttitude.CommonSenseLiving.com) shows you how to
maintain health, energy and lose weight, efficiently. Again,
with minimum cost in money, time or effort.

The new Google Desktop (http://desktop.google.com) application
helps improve your efficiency by being a total personal manager
for your computer, now both on your desktop and on the Net. And
if you’re a mobile user, the new google mobile homepage
(http://google.com/mobile) is great.

Sites such as Improvements.com provide tons of tools for
organizing almost anything in your home or office.

Drugstore.com provides the convenience your local drugstore,
prescriptions, all kinds of health and beauty products, and even
cleaning products – without ever leaving your home. The newest
efficiency tool is having your greeting cards sent out for you.
I wish I’d have thought of it! This one is really efficient.

There are millions of places to shop online for everything
imaginable. But with so many places to shop, it can become a
nightmare. Be sure to book mark your favorite stores and put
them in a separate folder for easy access. One of my favorites
is Barnes and Noble. You can find all kinds of books, movies and
music. My daughter has some different taste and I’ve been able
to find many of the strange titles she wants in stock there. She
wants to direct animated movies, so she’s into anime and a few
movies that came out of the UK. She finds some really off-beat
stuff that the rest of us never heard of.

Another of my favorites, especially between Halloween and
Christmas is Oriental Trading. They have tons of stuff for
Halloween. And for Christmas too. You can get a set of a dozen
really pretty blown glass ornaments for a few bucks. They make a
really nice gift. Just put them in a nicer box. Yep, Christmas.
If you really want to be efficient, start shopping now. Watch
the sales and the catalogs. Order one present a week and your
shopping will be done, and your budget won’t feel as bad as if
you did it all at once.

The Internet has even made the U.S. Post Office more efficient.
Can you believe that? They offer tons of services right on the
website. (http://www.usps.com)

Using these tools, you too can be a master of efficiency and
have more time to do the things you want to do!

Carole Pagan
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/being-more-efficient-198.html

Welcome all newcomers to Blue Ridge, Georgia, it’s time to be a tourist in your own town and discover all this area has to offer. A great place to start is by treating yourself to a train ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

Tucked away in the majestic mountains of Georgia in the Chattahoochee National Forest, experience a train ride alongside the scenic Toccoa River from Blue Ridge to McCaysville. Departing from the old station in historic Blue Ridge, the Scenic Railway travels 3 1/2 hours return (26 miles round trip) to downtown McCaysville, Georgia, right on the border of Copperhill, Tennessee.

Choose your seat from one of the enclosed, climate controlled cars or on a nice day, try one of the open air cars. During the ride you will be entertained with tidbits of local history of Fannin County, including details of its legendary moonshine activities. All the while enjoying views of the Cohutta Mountains to the west and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the south and east. Once in McCaysville, enjoy a 1 1/2 hour layover, just enough time to grab an ice cream and shop for antiques or local crafts. Also, make certain you cross the Blue Line where Toccoa Avenue (Georgia) meets Ocoee Street (Tennessee) – the street that divides into two states. This day trip has a little something for everyone, appealing to travelers of all ages.

Blue Ridge Scenic Railway Events:

Pumpkin Picking Trips: Wear your Halloween costume and take a ride to the pumpkin field.

Ride the Engine: Looking for a new experience, how about riding the engine?

Rail & Raft or Rail & Tube: . Begin with the classic train ride to McCaysville where you will be dropped off at rolling Thunder Rafting, there you can choose either a lazy tubing ride down the Toccoa River or a wild white water rafting adventure down the Ocoee river.

The Hiwassee Loop 2008: Same train, different route as you go past McCaysville and Copperhill, exploring the Cherokee National Forest and eventually descending into the Hiwassee River Gorge. Call for details and reservations, this trip is not to be missed!

All Aboard The Christmas Express!

The whole family will enjoy these festive holiday train rides complete with carols, Christmas stories, elves and a visit with Santa.

Call for details and reservations: 1-800-934-1898 or 1-706-632-9833 email: info@brscenic.com

www.brscenic.com

Location:

241 Depot Street, Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513

Austin Lansing
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/ride-the-rail-in-blue-ridge-225604.html

With lucrative job opportunities around in every sector today, there is a higher attrition rate among employees than ever before. Organisations are finding it really tough to retain their workforce, which has both direct and indirect adverse effect on their productivity. This has led managements worldwide use promotional items to motivate their internal employees apart from their cash compensation. These are remuneration in kind that acts as the sticking factor for the staff members to their respective companies. Not only this, but also a thought ahead will make us realise that these products are instrumental in motivating the employees. They feel inspired to work and  double their effort to receive such acknowledgement and appreciation.
Let us take a look at the various manners in which the staff members are presented with different promotional items-

As incentives:
For accomplishing targets beyond the set limit, companies offer incentives in the form of business gifts. This may include objects like pens, conference bags, folders and many more. It is a way of valuing their efforts and encouraging them to make more of such positive contributions to the business.

As bonuses:
They are also gifted as bonuses, namely, loyalty bonus, punctuality bonus, service efficiency bonus and the like. It may come in the form of clothing, executive gifts, and travel and leisure accessories to be precise. This is a method to boost the virtues of the employees, which is ultimately reaped by the company itself.

As prizes:
Again, the promotional items are presented as prizes to winners of the fun activities, sport competitions and other such in-house events held from time to time. It is to prompt the extra curricular capabilities of the employees for their all-round development.

As festive gifts:
Before festivals like Christmas, Easter, Halloween day and other similar occasions, companies give away promotional goods. Festive gifts may include mugs, coasters, keyrings, fridge magnets and others. Such a gesture make the employees feel that the people they work with are integral to their culture. It helps the employees to develop a sense of association towards the enterprise.

As seasonal gifts:
Corporate merchandise like umbrellas, sunglasses, warm clothing are distributed among the staff members with the on-set of appropriate season. It is an endeavour to build up close terms with the employees and a feeling of belongingness thereby.
If you also want to give your employees a reason of job satisfaction then make sure that you give away promotional items.

Gareth Parkin
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/promotional-items-treat-for-staff-members-511458.html