#3 That's Halloween

Happy Halloween!

This Wednesday, I celebrated my first Halloween as an assistant professor at the college where I work. I was in the class of N2Y with children of four years. Throughout the week, the children had been singing different songs about Halloween, decorating their classrooms with drawings of skeletons and witches and had heard the book "Room on a Broom" by Julia Donaldson.

Children's audio book, "Room on a broom"

Each class had a crown of some fear. "My class" were called monsters in one eye. All children had left their uniform at home and instead they were wearing black dresses. The teachers also left out their uniforms and replaced them with black dresses decorated by cobwebs, bats and a witch's hat.

The whole school was decorated with drawings made of the ​​children of preschool and elementary. High school students went to elementary classes to explain stories they had written about halloween and the primary students accompanied the pre-school children to do the "trick and treat" to students of secondary students.

The traditions and festivals is a good opportunity to weave links between younger students and older. In this way, you create a family atmosphere and a cozy place where all students feel valued,  for example when the older students explains stories to the younger ones.  Furthermore, the fact that the school is decorated with the drawings done by the students means how much value we put on their work and give them the chance to show their work for the whole school. Many times these small gestures are more satisfactory for the students than a high mark.

For us as teachers it is also a great time when we are having different activities such as Halloween, out of the normal activities day by day. As a teacher we have an obligation to make our students enjoying their daily school and in order to do this, we also need to enjoy our daily work.

Clara ***