What to Teach in October in the Elementary Special Education Classroom

I love October!! It is my favorite month. Fall is here 🍂, decorations are up🎃, and it's my birthday month 🎂! 

Halloween Theme

October is also a fun time in the classroom. We focus on lots of fun Halloween activities each year including learning new vocabulary, playing Halloween games, and sorting and graphing Halloween candy. 

These along with 9 additional Halloween-themed activities are included in my Halloween Thematic Unit in my TPT store! 

Trick or Treat Practice

Throughout the month of October, my class practices trick or treating in our weekly social skills group:

• Week 1: We start with introducing AAC for saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" within the classroom
• Week 2: Then, each staff member (myself, my paras, and our SLP) each set up a station for students to rotate through and practice while we pass out candy.
• Week 3: Next, we practice trick or treating within the office with all the office staff
• Week 4: We are ready to trick or treat with our families! 

And we connect it to this fill-in the blank writing activity.

Pumpkin Carving

One of my favorite annual traditions is hands down carving pumpkins with my class! We have made some super cute jack-o-lanterns over the years!

We also use pumpkin carving as a great opportunity to do some sensory exploration and discuss the texture and feel of the insides (affectionately referred to as the "pumpkin guts"!).

And it is also a great opportunity to work on sequencing!

Check out my previous post for my Top 5 Tips for Carving a Pumpkin in the Special Education Classroom for more details on what this looks like in my classroom. 

Halloween Picture Books

My favorite books for Halloween are Big Pumpkin and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. 

One year on our hayride at the farm they did a "spooky storytime" and did the Little Old Lady with props. It was SO MUCH FUN! And was a great way to get the kids engaged. After that year, we always acted out the story with spare clothes in the classroom. It was so fun!

Find the activities above in my Picture Book Communication and Comprehension Supports in my TPT store. Click the images below to get them! 

Halloween Crafts

Some fun Halloween crafts we have done was a group pumpkin pinata project for our Halloween Party and some footprint ghosts! Having classmates paint each others feet led to LOTS of giggles!

What a busy month! I love how my little class can mix in so much fun with our learning. 

Halloween Bundles in my TPT store 

The units above are available individually or in a variety of bundles! Click the images to find them in my TPT store!

Top 5 Tips for Carving a Pumpkin in the Special Education Classroom

Pumpkin carving is one of my favorite Halloween activities in my classroom but it definitely takes some planning! Here are my Top 5 Tips for Carving a Pumpkin in the Special Education Classroom. 

Tip #1: Consider Sensory Needs

Sometimes a student may not be comfortable touching the pumpkin guts so you can allow them to use gloves or even put some in a ziploc baggy to let them explore in a less overwhelming way. Sometimes I had students who would absolutely gag at the sight of the pumpkin guts. I allowed them to do something else during that time like painting pumpkins or using stickers. This activity is not worth that much distress! 

Tip #2: Use Visual Supports

We started by watching a video or reading a story about carving a pumpkin to preview the activity. Then, students completed this sequencing activity from my Halloween Thematic Unit to provide us with a visual step-by-step guides with clear pictures and text to help students understand the carving process. 

Tip #3: Allow Students to Design The Pumpkin

Give students the opportunity to express their creativity by designing their own pumpkin faces or patterns. My students with strong fine motor or drawing skills would draw their own pumpkin faces while my students who needed more support would use the Pick A Pumpkin activity from Starfall.com.

After all of the designs were completed, we would take a class vote on which one we wanted to use. We definitely had some unique (and adorable) finished products over the years!

Tip #4: Make Clean Up Easier

Use newspaper or a vinyl tablecloth to project your table (and maybe your floor!) from the pumpkin guts. They can stick and stain! 

We also use sharpie to draw the face on the pumpkin and can easily remove any extra residue after carving with some acetone or hand sanitizer! 
 

Tip #5: Take a class picture!

These are some of my most treasured classroom pictures because of all the memories they hold!

For more fun Halloween and fall activities for your special education classroom, check out my previous blog post:

Fall Activities in the Special Education Classroom

Fall Activities in the Special Education Classroom

I love October!! It is my favorite month. Fall is here 🍂, decorations are up🎃, and it's my birthday month 🎂! 

October is also a fun time in the classroom. Each year we take a field trip to a farm for a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, and hayride! It is a great way to kick off the month. 

It is one of my favorite months for our thematic units too. We finish our Apples Unit from September, then go into Fall & Leaves, and end the month with Halloween of course! 

Click to find this unit in my TPT store!

Click to find this unit in my TPT store!

My favorite books for Halloween are Big Pumpkin and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. One year on our hayride at the farm they did a "spooky storytime" and did the Little Old Lady with props. It was SO MUCH FUN! And was a great way to get the kids engaged. 

Click to find this book unit in my TPT store!

Click to find this book unit in my TPT store!

Some fun Halloween crafts we have done was a group pumpkin pinata project for our Halloween Party and some footprint ghosts! Having classmates paint each others feet led to LOTS of giggles!

We end the month with our big Halloween celebration. All three of our special education classrooms celebrate by doing rotations in the morning and then my students can go to their inclusion classroom parties in the afternoon. I always chose to do the pumpkin carving rotation. The students each designed their own pumpkin by drawing or selecting online (Starfall.com has a great option!). Then, the class would vote on their favorite and that would be the one we used for the class pumpkin! Don't miss my Top 5 Tips for Carving Pumpkins in the Special Education Classroom. 

What a busy month! I love how my little class can mix in so much fun with our learning. 

The units above are available individually or in a variety of bundles! Click the images to find them in my TPT store!