halloween in spain.

 This year I have definitely joined in with the Spaniards and all the hype surrounding Halloween. Last year I was just finding my footing in the school so I took more o fan outsider’s perspective on the holiday was celebrated. Immediately I learned that everyone in my school embraced Halloween and all the blood and gore attached to it so I couldn’t wait to take part in the festivities this year.

Costume: I knew I needed a great costume so I decided to be, drum roll please, a witch. I spent a little less than 10 euros at a chino (discount store) and left with a witch hat, toy flies, and a toy prey mantis. I even put in extra effort to make my hat stranger by sewing the toy flies all around the hat. My students ended up being most fascinated with the fake prey mantis that I used as a ring. They kept touching it and asking me where I bought it. Hecho.

Activities: There were so many activities at school that they cancelled classes! Did I mention that I love Spain?! I had two different activities:

          1.     Creepy Sensory Boxes: students put their hands into boxes of what they believed were witches’ teeth (popcorn kernels), zombie brain (sponge), dead bugs (overcooked rice in olive oil), Worms (cold spaghetti), and eyeballs (over ripen grapes).

          2.     Cookies vs. Zombies: students attempt toe at a cookie placed on their forehead without using their hands (because they’re zombies with missing limbs!)

Outcomes: sheer madness. Imagine various groups of 50 children on a sugar high constantly running to you while trying to absorb even more sugar into their Systems. Now imagine that over a span of 4 hours.

Students and faculty were dressed as your usual bloody or possessed characters. I saw zombies, exorcist brides, vampires, and mummies. 





To my pleasant surprise one of my second graders dressed up as Mike Wazowski and the head master was fabulously dressed as Cruella de Vil.  One of my favorite costumes of the year was from a 6^th grade teacher who didn’t deviate from his normal outfit of jeans, tight t-shirt, and jean jacket. When I asked him what he was he said “Clarisse, I’m from Twilight”. Fantastic.

Apart from the crazy the students really enjoyed both of my activities. I wasn’t sure if they were going to buy into the sensory boxes but some students would scream when they would feel the objects and some even started to gag! Success! Many of them tried really hard to figure out what everything was and that was also a big part of the fun.

The cookie challenge was also so entertaining. Of course many kids still ate their cookies after it fell to the ground. Many kids were actually able to complete the challenge first time around. There was even one boy who was so focused on not dropping the cookie that he never moved and the chocolate ended up melting on his forehead.

All in all this was a fun way to get involved with the school and bond with the students and staff outside of the classroom. After everyone got their sugar fix the day ended with a roller skating performance and a big reveal of which students won the baking contest.