Here are some great ideas for costumes for high school students (and even their teachers) to wear on Halloween to incorporate historical and literary elements as well as famous historical figures.

Deacon Brodie

This name may not sound very familiar to you: but what about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? William Brodie, also known as Deacon Brodie, was a respectable member of society in the mid-to-late 1700s. He was a Scottish cabinet maker and known for his craftsmanship. He also served as a city councilor in Edinburgh. However, Brodie had a secret life of crime. He spent his spare time breaking into houses and other establishments to steal. Some say it was partly for the thrill, and others say it was to fund his gambling habit.

The most interesting thing about Deacon Brodie is that he was the real-life inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886. After reading this novella and studying its history, students could use the characters in the story as inspiration for Halloween costume ideas. They could even have fun doing one side of their bodies as Dr. Jekyll and the other as Mr. Hyde, or two friends could pair up and one could dress as Dr. Jekyll, and the other as Mr. Hyde.

Vlad Tepes

For more literature inspired by historical figures, look no further than Vlad Tepes, better known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476. He is considered one of the most influential leaders of Wallachia and became a national hero of Romania. Vlad was called “The Impaler” because he impaled his enemies on stakes in the ground and left them to die.

Vlad Tepes was the second son of Vlad Dracul. Sound familiar? Years later, in 1897, Bram Stoker would use this historical figure as inspiration for his novel, Dracula. This novel spawned a whole new genre of horror books, films, stories, etc., about vampires. Although the character of Dracula is only loosely based on Vlad, it is still intriguing for students to learn that there is an actual historical figure behind the fictional character. This is another great option for a Halloween costume for you or your students.

Edgar Allen Poe

There is a lot of scary material to work with when you are studying Poe. He was a poem and short story writer and known as a master of the gothic genre, mostly writing horror stories and crime fiction. Poe is even credited with inventing the detective fiction genre in 1841 when he wrote “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Some of his other best known and most frightening works, such as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Cask of Amontillado” would serve as a great literature study around the Halloween season. There would be lots of good ideas for costumes, such as one of the story characters or dressing as Edgar Allen Poe himself!

Mary Shelley

Shelley is the daughter of William Godwin, philosopher and political writer, and Mary Wollstonecraft, famed feminist writer. However, her writing took a markedly different turn to that of her parents. This English writer is best known for her horror novel, Frankenstein. It is also said that this novel was an early form of science fiction.

Shelley wrote many horror and gothic stories. An author study about her, her life, and her stories would make a great unit to do around Halloween. You are bound to have some great Frankensteins come out of it. It is said that Shelley kept her dead husband’s heart until the day she died, which could be an interesting prop to go along with a costume!

Marie Antoinette

Many well-known historical figures famously lost their heads. So, why not enhance the scary in your room by doing a study on some of history’s most famous executions? Marie Antoinette, Mary Queen of Scots, and Ann Boleyn were all beheaded.

Give students a time frame to research and find out what famous political executions took place during that time. Some students might want to dress as a ghostly version of Marie, Mary, or Ann. Some of your very creative students may come up with a way to have a decapitated costume!

Other Works of Literature

There are many other great, upper-level literary works out there that would be great to study and would serve as an excellent source of inspiration for costumes to you and your students!

Porphyria’s Lover

Robert Browning tells the story of a man who dearly loves his Porphyria, and she loves him. His devotion to her and admiration of her is seemingly endless. Then, completely unexpectedly and for no apparent reason, the speaker strangles Porphyria with her hair and props her dead body up next to him and continues to show her affection. Pretty creepy!

The Birds

This story by Daphne du Maurier was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s movie by the same name. A farmhand, his family, and the community are terrorized and brutally attacked by a flock of birds.

The Landlady

Roald Dahl didn’t just write children’s books; he also loved scary stories. His story The Landlady can be quite spooky, involving a suspicious landlady poisoning and tricking one of her guests.

Instead of just looking forward to Halloween being over because of excited and slightly out-of-control students, embrace it by studying scary history. Students can bring that history back into the classroom with their costumes and share their characters’ stories with the class. This makes a fun Halloween treat for students and teachers in history or literature class; find some scary history and get started!

The post Historical Halloween Costume Ideas to Try in Your Class appeared first on TeachHUB.

Pumpkin Power

Did you know that you can turn a pumpkin into a battery? For this experiment, students will harness the power of pumpkins to see how many volts it can get. The more pumpkins you use, the more power you get, so challenge students to try it with multiple pumpkins after this experiment.

The objective of this experiment is to show students how fruit can turn into a battery.

Materials you’ll need:

• Two pumpkins
• Multimeter
• Alligator clip
• Zinc strips, galvanized screws, or nails
• Copper strips or thick copper wire
• Safety goggles

Steps for experiment:

1. Gather materials and place them on a workbench or table.
2. Stick a copper strip and zinc strip on opposite sides of each pumpkin. If you don’t have the strips, you can use galvanized nails and copper wire which you can find for less than a dollar at a hardware store.
3. Connect the copper from one pumpkin to the zinc in the other pumpkin with the alligator clip.
4. Connect the black lead from the multimeter to the other remaining zinc strip and the red lead to the second remaining copper strip.
5. Turn the multimeter to the “V” with the line above to see what the voltage measures. It should measure at least 1.5 volts or higher. If it doesn’t, then check that everything is connected correctly. Note: you may get a different voltage reading depending on the items you used and the size of your pumpkins.

The science behind this experiment is that pumpkins have acidic juices that help to transport electrical energy. The zinc ions leave behind electrons that travel to the copper, and this movement then creates electricity.

Erupting “Vomiting” Pumpkin

If you’re looking for a Halloween science experiment that students can do remotely, then the erupting pumpkin volcano is the way to go. This is also the perfect experiment for high school students to do for their younger siblings or neighbors because young children will a kick out watching a “vomiting” pumpkin.

Since this is a messy experiment, it’s best to go outdoors. It’s also wise to instruct students to use their rotting (already carved) pumpkins before they get thrown away, so if they’re doing the experiment from home, they don’t need to buy new pumpkins.

The objective of this easy science experiment is to show students a simple chemical reaction they can do at home.

Materials you’ll need:

• Carved Pumpkin
• Food coloring
• Dish soap
• Measuring cup
• Tablespoon
• Small cups
• Warm water
• Dry yeast
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Safety goggles

Steps for experiment:

1. Gather materials and go outside.
2. Open the top of the pumpkin and pour one tablespoon of dish soap.
3. Drop about 10 drops of food coloring (the actual amount is up to you, depending on the color you want).
4. Pour in a half of cup of hydrogen peroxide.
5. Mix one tablespoon of dry yeast and three tablespoons of warm water for about one minute.
6. Carefully pour the mixture into the hole and watch how the pumpkin starts to foam.

Experiment with different amounts of ingredients to see how the foam changes.

The science behind this experiment is this: the pumpkin foams because of the yeast. When you add the warm water, the yeast gets ready to work. The yeast then reacts with the hydrogen peroxide, strips off the oxygen atoms, and turns the hydrogen peroxide into water. Then the hydrogen peroxide turns into water and oxygen gas. When the oxygen gets released by the yeast, it bubbles into the dish soap and makes foam. The speed of the reaction then pushes the foam out of the holes of the pumpkin, making it an erupting or “vomiting” pumpkin.

Spooky Halloween Punch

When it comes to Halloween, elementary students are the ones who have the parades and parties, but what about high school students? They, too, would like to celebrate Halloween and partake in some fun festivities. This experiment is the perfect way to add spooky excitement into your high school science class.

This experiment aims to show students the process of sublimation – the transition of a substance from a solid state to a gas state.

Materials you’ll need:

• Punch bowl
• Punch (any type of liquid refreshment)
• Heavy gloves
• Dry ice
• Safety goggles

Steps for experiment:

1. Fill the punch bowl with the liquid refreshment about halfway (you’ll need room in the bowl for the “fog” to fill the rest of the bowl as well as run over the sides of the bowl).
2. Put on goggles and heavy gloves and place a few pieces of dry ice into the punch bowl. You will see the effect begin immediately, but let it sit and bubble for a few minutes.
3. It’s advised to wait until the dry ice is gone before serving the punch to students but if you decide to serve the punch, use a strainer so no one accidentally gets any dry ice into their glass.

The science behind this experiment is this: dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. The temperature of dry ice is -109.3°F (-78.5°C). Dry ice does not melt into a liquid as its temperature rises; it changes directly into a gas. This process is called sublimation.

All of these science experiments are designed to be under the supervision of an adult to ensure safety. Please make sure students are wearing safety goggles and use precaution when conducting each experiment.

The post Halloween Science Experiments: High School appeared first on TeachHUB.

As teachers work to rebuild their classrooms into a more familiar learning environment, not only are academics highly important in this current school year, but so are building relationships and having fun. Below are several fun science experiments for kids that are engaging, exciting, and just in time for Halloween.

Create Your Own Monster

When it comes to physics, work is defined as a force causing the movement of an object. In day-to-day life, work happens constantly. A student carrying their books and setting them on their locker shelf, weightlifting, shooting a basketball, or pushing a shopping cart, are all examples of work. For work to be able to occur, a force has to be exerted onto an object so that that object can move.

If a student is having explosive behavior in the hallway and trying to push a wall, that would not be considered work because the wall is not going to move. But if the upset student throws his book across the hall, that would be considered work because the boy’s force along with gravity causes the book to fall down. 

This Halloween activity explores both engineering and physics and is a perfect, creative science experiment for middle school during this time of year. Put students’ physics and engineering skills to the test by having them design and create a monster using items from your STEAM supplies or items brought in from home. This experiment can also be adjusted to be done online, or remotely, with the items students have at home, and by uploading pictures of their monster, or showing it off on Zoom, etc. The criteria for the student’s monster (which can be adapted to your choosing) are that it must be able to have movement, work, in some way.

Create other requirements for students such as the monster must include a cupcake liner, beads, googly eyes, or pipe cleaners. Rate the monsters based on best design, best physics monster that showcased work, and most spooky. The options for creativity are endless, and students are sure to love this hands-on, uncanny, science activity.

Do You Want to See My Blood?

The sight of blood may either make you squeamish or fascinate you. And this time of year, blood comes to mind more often with the entrance of vampires, goblins, and other spooky creatures. In this activity, students will learn what the components of blood are. They will observe how blood looks different under a microscope than under their eye.

Supplies needed:

• Microscope (a few per class is ideal, though this is also optional)
• Liquid corn starch
• Red food coloring
• Styrofoam balls (white and enough so each group has several)
• Straight erasers or an equivalent object (enough so each group has several)
• Clear glue
• Petri dishes (enough for each partner group)

Begin by mixing together slime using your favorite recipe or by following these steps. First, mix four ounces of glue, three ounces of water, and a few drops of food coloring into a container. Add four ounces liquid corn starch and stir until mixed. After stirring for about two minutes, the liquid should no longer be separated, and the slime should be coming together as fully bonded. Let the slime sit for two minutes so that it gels, then stretch and knead the slime with your fingers for another few minutes. This ensures that the stickiness is gone and helps you be able to pull the slime farther when manipulating it.

After creating your slime base for your blood model, mix in several Styrofoam balls (both red and white). Sprinkle the erasers, or other straight objects, on top. Place mixture in a petri dish for some added dramatization. Then, ask students to identify what is representing the red blood cells, the white blood cells, the platelets, and the plasma. Finally, if available, have students observe their blood underneath a microscope as they reflect on what scientists may be looking for when they observe blood samples.

Pumpkin Volcano

What better way to explore chemical reactions than by using Fall’s favorite produce: the pumpkin? In this experiment students will be given a small pumpkin. They should cut the top off (or do this ahead of time for them) and hollow out the inside. Then, place vinegar, liquid dish soap, food coloring (optional), and baking soda in front of each group. Ask them to make a prediction about what will happen when they combine these ingredients together inside the pumpkin. Additionally, ask them to explain their thoughts behind their prediction.

After predictions are made, have the students fill the inside of their pumpkin about halfway with vinegar. Add a squirt of dish soap (increases the size of the eruption) and a few drops of food coloring if you choose. Stir together the liquids and then step back to watch what happens!

Once the eruption is over, the students can repeat the experiment, try it with the lid on, or test out what happens when they add less or more of the ingredients. After cleaning up, revisit the students’ predictions and explanations for what they thought they would see. See if any students knew, otherwise teach them, that when vinegar and baking soda mix, they react to form carbon dioxide bubbles. Thus, the pumpkin erupted! Reflect on what happened with any groups who altered the ingredients.

As we continue to live in a world with the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressures of catching students up academically are ever increasing. However, nearly equally important, is letting kids re-acclimate to a school environment where they feel safe, valued, and loved. By adding fun into your school days, such as with science experiments for kids such like these, students will again find their spark and joy for learning.

The post Halloween Science Experiments: Middle School appeared first on TeachHUB.

Here are three different Halloween science experiments for elementary students. The first experiment can be easily shared with students participating in a remote school setting. The last two Halloween experiments would be more successfully accomplished in a face-to-face classroom setting.

Dissolving Candy Pumpkins

Objective: Students develop detailed observation skills and practice developing predictions that can later be generated into a hypothesis statement.

Items Needed:

• Milk
• Water
• Vegetable oil
• Vinegar
• Four clear cups (glass or plastic)
• Candy pumpkins or candy corns (enough to place one in each cup)
• After completing the experiment, students may select four or more different liquids

Instructions:

1. Pour approximately ½ of each liquid into its own cup. Set up the clear cups with the liquids next to one another on a counter.
2. Before adding one candy pumpkin to each cup, ask the students to write down a prediction about how the liquid will affect the candy pumpkin. Ask the question: “Which liquid will cause the pumpkin to dissolve completely?”
3. Other prediction questions can include: “Will the candy pumpkins float or sink in the different liquids?”
4. Give the candy pumpkins a few minutes to sit in each of the different cups of liquid, and have students record observations witnessed by sight.
5. Remove each pumpkin candy from the liquids and have students record additional observations using sight, smell, and touch.

Students can watch the teacher experiment with Zoom or Google Meet. Students can also follow along with the teacher by experimenting with the teacher remotely. Teachers can access the students’ work with a written conclusion of the experiment based on the students’ observations that may or may not support the initial predictions made before placing the pumpkin candies in the liquids.

Magic Jack-O-Lantern

Objective: Students observe and predict how and why a balloon can inflate without a person blowing it up with breath.

Items Needed:

• Recycled water bottle
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Funnel
• Jack-O-Lantern or any Halloween-themed balloon

Instructions:

1. Fill the recycled bottle ¼ full with vinegar using the funnel.
2. Place one tablespoon of baking soda using the funnel into the bottle with vinegar.
3. Quickly, place the balloon opening over the top of the bottle and lift the balloon to sit straight up.

The students will observe the balloon slowly inflate when the vinegar and baking soda combine and create a gas: carbon dioxide chemical reaction. The teachers will begin to ask students how the balloon is growing without human breath, and depending on the elementary level of the students, the complexity of the chemical reaction can be explained. Students can record observations and share predictions at the end of the experiment.

Spooky Hand Model

Objective: Students learn about biology and precisely how all the different hand parts work together by constructing a paper hand and creating and identifying the bones and tendons in hand. Students can also be creative by creating a spooky skeleton hand.

Items Needed:

• Black construction paper
• Straws
• String
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Tape
• White crayon

Instructions:

1. Students use the white crayon to trace one hand on a piece of black construction paper.
2. Cut the traced hand with scissors.
3. Students place their hand back over the cut-out hand and place a mark beside each finger joint.
4. Cut a section of straw to secure the place of the finger bones, leaving space between the marked joints for each finger. Repeat this process for each finger and thumb. Tape the straw sections to the black construction paper.
5. Cut a length of string slightly more than double the size of the hand. Feed pieces of the line starting at the wrist and ending at the tip of each traced finger. Tying the string into a secure knot at the tip of the finger so the string does not slide out of the straw sections.
6. Repeat feeding the string through each of the straw sections of each finger and thumb.
7. Fold the paper fingers at each joint to help move the fingers using the end of the strings hanging below the paper wrist.
8. Have students pull the individual strings gently to simulate how the fingers bend by the joints. Each string controls the individual fingers, and when removed, the paper fingers on the hand can be placed in different formations.

Students will use the engineering process to create the paper hand with moving fingers, and students may need to redesign and reconstruct before achieving a working paper hand. They can be creative with spider rings and long fingernails when making a spooky paper hand as a Halloween activity.

Students can enjoy all three of these science experiments this Halloween. These experiments will engage and bring the joy of science concepts to elementary students.

The post Halloween Science Experiments: Elementary School appeared first on TeachHUB.

Halloween Writing Prompts

1. If you could create your very own monster, what would it look like? What would it be called? What types of things would it do to scare people? Where does the monster live? Tell me everything there is to know about your monster. If you want, draw a picture of the monster.
2. Do you love trick-or-treating? Dressing up in costumes? Haunted houses? Costume parties? Halloween games? Halloween decorations? Scary movies? Write a poem about your favorite part of Halloween, sharing why it is special to you.
3. Write a story about a kid who goes trick-or-treating. Start from the minute he or she puts on his or her costume and finish when he or she gets home and puts on normal clothes again. Tell me everything that happens.
4. If we had a Halloween party in class, what would you want to see? Should we decorate the classroom? How would we do that? What types of food and activities would we have? What costumes would you want to see?
5. What was the best Halloween you ever had? What made it great? What would make this Halloween even better than that?
6. Write a spooky story to tell around the campfire. Remember, you want to build suspense using onomatopoeia and alliteration. Don’t forget to have a big finale to frighten everyone who is listening.
7. If you could design a haunted house, what would you name it? What types of rooms would you have? Describe, in detail, three of the best rooms in your haunted house.

Have fun with these Halloween-themed writing prompts. Your students definitely will!

The post 7 Quick Halloween Creative Writing Prompts appeared first on TeachHUB.