Spooktacular Halloween-euh

 

Trick Or Treat

Smell my feet

Give me something good to eat

if you don't, I don't care...

I have cuter kids than you *shrugs*

It's that time of year once again! Time to completely cover Little America with orange and black decorations that they've used every year since the beginning of time only for one day and then take it all down again in a hectic flurry of scissors and tape. This year especially, Solomon teacher did not want decorations to go up until the very last minute. They don't look professional I suppose. So Thursday, Shine teacher and I went to work decorating Idaho classroom during the day and then the real work began at night when all of the teachers join forces to turn Little America into a Halloween explosion. There until 10:30pm, we put the majority of our decorating efforts and tired-loopy-energy into assembling the haunted house. After about an hour of cutting and getting tangled in packaging tape, the spooky maze was nearly complete. It was at this point that the foreign teachers pretty much lost it. We found a gross old blond wig and a scream mask and thus commenced a photo shoot. Unfortunately for you, these photographs will never be seen....ever...

*Distraction picture of the haunted house process*

One very exciting thing (maybe not for all of you) was the incredible purchase of new trashbags to create the narrow pathways of the maze! We had used old, tape covered, ripped, and sad trashbags that just weren't doing the job. These new ones made the construction sooo much easier. The Korean teachers sent us home so they could finish without us getting in their way. They would do test runs and finish hanging scary things throughout the maze.

happy balloon bat

Idaho's ghost door

The next morning, Kaitie, Katrina, and I headed into work early to get started on make up and costume assembly. The themed costumes of the teachers this year was a new component of Halloween at Little America. We each chose our favorite character from the well known, creepy, Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland". The cast list is as follows;

Alice in Wonderland

Brought to you by:

Little America

Alice: Kaitie Teacher

 

Cheshire Cat: Katrina Teacher

 

White Rabbit: Christina Teacher

 

Mad Hatter: Liz Teacher

 

White Queen: Shine Teacher

 

Red Queen: Laura Teacher

 

Teacup Mouse: Grace Teacher

 

Talking Flower: Joy Teacher

 

Card Soldiers: Alex Teacher, Jennifer Teacher, Claire Teacher

 

Special appearance by: Solomon Teacher, playing....Solomon Teacher

 

Throughout the week, we played the movie for the students in the morning so that they would be prepared for our group costume. Most of them had never heard of the movie! I love spreading some memories from my childhood (as creepy as they might be...) to the students here. Possible side effects might be Kaitie Teacher being called "Alice Teacher" indefinitely.

As we crouched in our dark doorways that morning, we heard the students being led into the main area of the school. This is when the crying started. The students refused to be led through the hall, stubbornly freezing to the spot in the doorway where that last bit of light could save them from the ultimate doom that was the dark hallway. I heard Idaho class being called in and when there was no movement at the end of the hall I deduced that my girls would need a bit of assistance. Walking towards them, Jean started crying harder and backing away. Until I held her and told her it was just Laura Teacher she was convinced I was some evil royal queen there to take her away forever. After leading them into our classroom and stopping the tears, I had them help me scare the other students as they walked to their classrooms. Once this tormenting was over, the lights came on and the festivities commenced.

 

 Iron man loves pumpkin carving

The day is fully packed with Halloween song contests, birthday celebrations, and trick or treating....and that was all before lunch. At some point during a break, the foreign teachers all ventured out to get coffee in full (or nearly full) costume and makeup. We all thought Katrina teacher would scare a few people with her Cheshire Cat smile, but no one seemed overly alarmed by her. They may have made a double take, but then they just pretended nothing was out of the ordinary. Watching her order at the counter and the cashier trying to pretend she wasn't talking to someone with a giant creepy smile painted on her face was pretty darn amusing.

After lunch the students would rotate among the different rooms, each containing a fun Halloween activity. Kaitie and I were in charge of the "scaredy cat" room aka for the students who opted out of going through the Haunted House. Although a lot of the students were quite brave, many of them broke into tears at the thought of having to go through that very dark, very scary pathway. Even Joy teacher wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she had to put on a brave face and lead the students through. Instead of being jumped out at and crawling through dark tunnels, students in our room could make scary monster popcorn hands. Sounds much more tame and cheery, yes?

Once the wee ones were all packed up and stuffed with sugary sweets, it was time to prep for the elementary students. I was put in charge of the dissecting room, where students had to put their hands into boxes and feel the disgusting body parts I set up for them. Due to some miscommunication and hectic planning, the items in the box were not as gross and slimy as I would have liked, but improvising is an important skill of a teacher. After telling the students a scary story about finding a body in the park and cutting it up for the students to touch, I led the students one by one down the line of boxes to test their courage. Despite my severe lack of scary-story skills, a lot of students wouldn't put their hands in the boxes! I was proud of myself when I managed to scare them that much. Is that awful of me? No...don't answer that... In the boxes were some brains, intestines, hair, and teeth (Aka rubber gloves smothered in lotion, a toy snake, a wig, and some corn kernels).

For the next group of students, my job was to scare them in the haunted house. Honestly, I absolutely hate going in there. Its just completely pitch black at first. I had to sit and allow my eyes to adjust for a while before looking around my hiding place. After a mild freak out because there was a terrifying mask on the ground next to me, I calmed myself down ready to terrorize some children (I'm a terrible person). Some students weren't phased at all by me jumping out and grabbing them. One girl actually said, "Oh hi Laura Teacher" like we happened to bump into each other in the cereal aisle at HomePlus. I got better reactions out of other students who refused to get out from under the table, which would lead them to the rest of the haunted house. By the end of my time in there the plastic bags were showing the wear and tear of being pulled on a run into by a small army of elementary and kindergarten students. The best decision made this year was to not let the oldest students go through the maze. Last year they got violent and would lash out haphazardly usually landing some solid blows on whatever poor teacher happened to get in their way. This year we used that time to completely tear down all of our hard work and set them in front of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" episodes instead. It's crazy how hours of work to put up the spooky haunted maze is erased in about 15 minutes. When the bell rang for students to head home, Little America looked almost back to normal, like nothing had ever happened.

We all know the truth though...

Hope everyone has a very spooky Halloween! xoxo

Korean of the post:
체셔 고양이는 커피가 좋아요.
(Chaesheo goyangineun ceopiga johayo)
"The Cheshire Cat likes coffee"