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Sheila Sims Iding
I’m going to tell you a little secret but please…PLEASE…do not tell the kids….I hate Halloween. Actually I hate the word “hate” so let me rephrase that…I don’t like Halloween AT ALL.
Oh I am sure I liked it when I was a kid. There was an excitement the whole day for those two hours of “treating”. I’m sure I liked it when my boys were little. And I am sure I liked when a stray Butterfinger found it’s way to me.
But for the most part I don’t remember ever loving Halloween. I know some people do but it’s not me. I also don’t remember being super excited for Halloween but to first graders Halloween is magical.
The magic starts with the first pumpkin-turned-jack-o-lantern drawing early in October and with black cat cubby decorations near the end of it.
It happens with the first talk of bats or spiders or scarecrows.
If you want to see a child smile, ask them about their Halloween Costume and then be prepared for them to tell you EVERYthing about it. Magical.
There is magic in the Halloween stories they hear…especially if you turn the lights out and read in the dark. BOO!
If you want to see "magical" in action...turn on the Monster Mash song for M&M.
Halloween parties always hold the potential for magical. Ghost crafts and sparkly pumpkin crafts and hot pumpkin toss. And Halloween bingo with candy corn for markers. All magical.
There are party favors that are magical from the green monster finger to the stretchy spider to the yummy food.
There are bats and ghosts and monsters and skeletons all lined up with the Trick or Treaters to perform their play “Halloween Night” for parents and for pen pals.
There are black spiders hanging from each cubby. (Don’t worry they just look real.)
There is sharing of Halloween journal entries, whispers across the teams about costumes and spider hats with legs flapping in the breeze.
And as the school day comes to an end and I have a ba-zillion things to do before I leave, I reflect on how I don’t like Halloween. But mostly I think about all the Halloween things that are so special to a first grader and you start to see things in a different way. And I have to admit that part of me agrees…through the eyes and the smiles and the shrieks of first graders…Halloween is magical.