Since Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, we celebrated early by having a special Halloween Treat Family Night @ the Library. The children (and parents) were encouraged to wear their costume to the library. I was thrilled to see so many people arrive in the costume.
Because of the PTA Program the building was very crowded with people. Not everyone came into the library to participate in the activities, but we did have ten parents sign up for a library card and seven new Star Families. It is always exciting when new families come into the library to see what is going on, especially on Thursday nights. I hope they caught the Family Night @ the Library fever and will return each week.
A scavenger hunt was requested by one of my Thursday night regulars, so I created a new in the spirit of fall. I used a clipart image of a pumpkin and then added a shape face on each one to make a jack-o-lantern. To make the scavenger hunt a little more interesting and to incorporate one of the objectives the children are currently work on in their class, I made each face out of a different shape (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, and rhombus - also known as a diamond). The children were given a data sheet with a picture clue to use in order to locate the area where the jack-o-lantern was hidden. Once they located the area and found the jack-o-lantern, the children were to record the shape they found on the data sheet.
In the hallway I placed copies of an activity book I made out of Halloween themed coloring sheets and puzzles from the Nick Jr. website (
Dora the Explorer). I love to see the parents and the children sitting side by side coloring and working on puzzles. It is a great way to relieve stress and have fun together. Our turn out was so large I had to go make more copies of the activity books because the 50 copies I made (which has always been more than enough) were gone before 5:30. [No complaints from me! I love having so many families coming to the library!]
I also wanted each of the children to have a book to take home with them so I printed copies of
Monster Halloween from the Reading A-Z website. Copies were available for the children in English and in Spanish so everyone could enjoy the story.
Costumed Characters Around the Library
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Thing 1 & Thing 2
from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Mr. Leonard & Mrs. Marge |
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Granny Quarterback
from Little Granny Quarterback
Bill Martin, Jr.
Mrs. Betts |
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| Pirate and Bat Girl |
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| Snow White |
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| Snow White, Pretty Witchy, and Superhero |
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| Strawberry Shortcake |
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| Fire Fighter |
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| Luigi & Mario |
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| Halloween Girls |
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| Pretty Witchy |
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| Gypsy Witchy |
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| Super Girl |
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| Pretty Witchy, Princess, and Super Girl |
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| Incredible Hulk & Kitten |
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| Incredible Hulk & Dad |
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| Iron Man & Bee |
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| Pretty Princesses |
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| Fairy & Snow White |
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| Ninja, Fairy, & Ruby Bridges |
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| Batman Duo |
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| Pirates |
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| Tennessee Titan's Football Coach |
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| Dallas Cowboys Football Player |
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| Pretty Princess |
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Boba Fett from Star Wars &
Flying Cheetah Girl |
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| Halloween Family Fun |
Search for the Jack-o-Lanterns, Scavenger Hunt
Working Together
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| Coloring Monster Halloween |
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| Working on the mazes and puzzles. |
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Being creative with their
Star Family poster |
Reading and Finding Books
Next week we will be focusing on the upcoming election. The Irving Independent School District will be holding a mock Presidential Election on November 1st and 2nd. All students, parents, faculty and staff members are encouraged to participate in this process. It is a great way to help the children understand the voting process and how the President of the United States is elected. This is a pretend election and does not in any way impact the actual election.
If you would like to participate in the vote and cast your mock ballot on Thursday, November 1st, please go to the
district virtual voter registration site in order to register. You can use any four or six digit number when you register (you might use the last four digits of your telephone number or the four digits of your birthdate - or year of your birth). We will have the voting booth open for anyone who would like to vote during Family Night @ the Library.
We will also have our interactive Project Vote '12 board up so pictures and words from newspapers or campaign materials can be added to the Red (Republican), White (Neutral), or Blue (Democratic) board.
