Halloweenie

Halloween is great. One of my favorite shows as a kid, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, had a great Halloween episode entitled Halloweenie. The basic plot is how the older brother feels like he's too old to go trick-or-treating with his younger brother for fear of being made fun of by his schoolmates. (A short clip is found here) What a great show first of all. Secondly, what a great message. I hate when people start to ruin things for children. Kids lose a part of their childhood the minute they stop believing in magic, ghosts, or even Santa Clause.

I was so happy to see every student walk into class that last Friday with not only some great costumes, but an excited attitude for the Halloween festivities. The school that I work at is so wonderful. They have the best celebrations and activities. I get sad when other schools don't let their kids dress up and do fun things. Sure the day was almost a total waste and very little learning was going on, but when was being a kid just about learning.

I don't remember the day I learned long division, or when I learned to hate math. (It may have actually been the same day) I do, however, remember the scary story my teacher read to us on Halloween in fifth grade. I do remember learning that awful dance in 6th grade where we used the poles and utterly bombed our performance in front of the other 6 graders. I do remember all of those little things I did during school that had nothing to do with the Core Curriculum, but it made those other long days of sitting in those rock hard chairs more bearable.

Also, I hate the news. Why is celebrating Halloween so controversial? Is there nothing more important to talk about? I'm sure hundreds of people are dying in foreign lands every day due to disease, war, or shortages of food and clean water. I guess it's better than hearing about another child that Brangelina are adopting. Here's to Halloween and all the rights and rituals that go along with it. ksl.com - School Halloween activities: fun or waste of time?