Here's a Mystery Cauldron Halloween center activity idea that can be easily differentiated from toddler to elementary school student! It may also be a fun theme to add to your classroom's calming corner if you have one.

This post will first outline the set up, and then list some adaptation suggestions to suit kids from toddler to fifth-grader!

 

​Whether it's the excitement around Halloween, a full moon, or everyone is already hyped up on sugar, the classroom can become a little crazy.  Getting kids to focus on their learning during the week of Halloween can be a challenge. If you are not prepared with engaging and relevant activities, then chances are the week may turn into a nightmare for you! 

A strong strategy to conquer this craze filled week is to have a bunch of spooky themed education activities ready to go! By keeping learning fun, managing the craziness will be a lot less stressful in the classroom. Engaged students usually reduces the typical types of behavioral issues. If you don't know where to start, this guide will help you find some fun and easy to prep activities. Some resources listed are free, others cost around a cup of coffee, either way, I hope that these resources save you time and keep learning fun for everyone.

This year I thought it was time to update my favorite Halloween Brain Break collection to share with you. Since my last Halloween Brain Break post, which was about 2 years ago, I've discovered some new and fun ideas to implement in the classroom and home. Some of these brain breaks work well for younger students, others for older, and some both. Either way, if you are looking for some fresh and 'spooky' themed ideas for brain breaks in your classroom this year, keep on reading. 

Suddenly, the cat was very concerned!

Use this mystery prompt to see what ideas your students come up with about 'what could have happened?' This particular prompt will make for a great writing center activity during the Halloween season.

Prep: Print and laminate the image below into a card to use as an early finisher task or writing center activity.
OR
​Display on the board for a whole class writing activity. 

There are plenty of ways you may wish to use this prompt. If you would like some ideas, keep on reading.

When using any of the math mystery resources from my range as a class activity, I recommend pacing the case clue by clue rather than giving your students all of the five clue worksheets in one go. By pacing the clues, it will stop some students from racing too far ahead of the rest, while others are left behind.  Turning a math mystery into a competition has its benefits, and certainly is still a fine approach to using these if you prefer to give all five clues in a booklet format for students to work on at their own pace. However, in this post, I aim to outline five tips with suggestions that will help set up ALL of your students for math mystery success!