October

THE EXPLORATIONS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS:
http://www.mariner.org/age/columbus.html

Use this site for the Columbus Day holiday to explore
the life of Columbus, as well as his famous voyages.
Several images are included, along with info on how to
use a compass and general living conditions aboard ship.
Have your students write a journal, role playing a crew
member and logging a diary at sea.

RED RIBBON WEEK ACTIVITIES:
http://www.imdrugfree.com/activities.html

Find activities here to help you make Red Ribbon Week
meaningful for your school. Each day includes a theme,
with special projects and suggestions to support it.

RED RIBBON ACTIVITIES AND PRINTABLES:
http://www.redribbonworks.org/ideas_and_activities/

Download printable activity and coloring sheets to
use for Red Ribbon Week.

DRUG AND VIOLENCE EDUCATION:
http://dave.esc4.net/search/

Find a collection of lesson plans to use for Red Rib-
bon Week--and throughout the school year--covering
PreK through to high school.

RED RIBBON ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL:
http://www.tcada.state.tx.us/redribbon/redschool.html

Here is an extensive list of activities to consider
for exploring Red Ribbon Week at your own school.

PRINTABLE HALLOWEEN CRAFTS:
http://www2.benjerry.com/halloween/

Download and print out a few Halloween crafts for your
elementary classes to assemble, including Glynda the
good witch, a moving parts skeleton, and a Victorian
house to color.

HALLOWEEN CLIP ART:
http://www2.benjerry.com/halloween/free-images/index.html?redir=n

Choose between several Halloween clipart images to use
for web pages, themed notes, or worksheets.

HALLOWEEN BOOKMARKS:
http://www.abcteach.com/bookmarks/halloween.htm

Use these printable bookmarks to reward classroom be-
havior, for prizes in your own Halloween parties, or
to encourage early reading skills. You can also give
them out as trick or treat prizes instead of the usu-
al candy treats.

NO ORDINARY PUMPKIN:
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/10/102201t_pumpkins.jhtml

Charlie Brown would surely appreciate the wonders of
these GIANT pumpkin patches--but how can you move a
1000 pound pumpkin to enter it into a great pumpkin
fair in the first place? Measure off the world's lar-
gest pumpkins in this October installment for River-
deep, where pumpkins are a very serious business.
Student activities include estimating weights and
circumferences of your own class pumpkins, and link-
ing to some pretty spectacular designs for carving
jack-o'-lanterns. You may even wish to sponsor your
own school-wide jack-o'-lantern design contest, choos-
ing various categories such as spookiest, silliest,
most creative, etc.

CARVE A VIRTUAL PUMPKIN:
http://www.thepumpkinfarm.com/jack/jackboard.html

By selecting a button for eyes, nose, mouth, and eye-
brows, primary students will be able to carve their
own virtual pumpkins.

HALLOWEEN BORDER PAPER:
http://www.abcteach.com/paper/pumpkin.htm
http://www.abcteach.com/paper/owl_borderlines.htm
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/halloween_stationery.htm

Print out copies of these colorful border papers for
journal entries or writing exercises with a Halloween
theme. The 1st URL has pumpkin borders, the 2nd has
owls, while the 3rd URL offers several choices, in-
cluding trick or treat teddy bears.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN PRINTABLE BOOKMARKS:
http://www.janbrett.com/bookmarks/happy_halloween_printed.htm

Author and illustrator Jan Brett creates her usual
magic with these beautiful printable bookmarks, just
in time for Halloween treats.

BAT UNIT:
http://www.abcteach.com/Bats/BatsTOC.htm

Elementary students can choose a printable page to
write an acrostic bat poem, learn about similes
through bat idioms, make a bat shape book, complete
a bat wordsearch, and more.

ALL ABOUT BATS:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bat/

October and its holidays provide the perfect opportunity
for learning about bats. This site provides plenty of
printables on bats and bat anatomy, along with general
background information on classifying bats. Find more
specific info on both the fruit bat, and the ever-
popular vampire bat.

HALLOWEEN FILL IN THE BLANKS:
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/new_page_22.htm

These printable math pages have empty little ghosts
that need a number filled in--perfect worksheets for
practicing counting skills from one to one hundred.

PUMPKIN LIFE CYCLE PRINTABLE:
http://atozteacherstuff.com/printables/pumpkin_lesson.pdf

Teach your elementary students the life cycles of
pumpkins with this primary printable worksheet and
lesson plan. Don't forget to plant your own pumpkin
seeds and watch them sprout.

PUMPKIN SEQUENCING PRINTABLES:
http://www.ri.net/schools/Central_Falls/ch/heazak/pumpixs.html

Cut and paste the images of a pumpkin in various
stages of its life cycle to sequence them in proper
order. Printable student worksheets.

SPIN A WEB:
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceSpiderWebsK5.htm

Spark early scientific investigations and observations
with this lesson suggestion, whereby students will
watch a spider spin a web between two sticks.

SPIDERS -- SCARY OR NICE?
http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopartners/spiders/lesson1.html

Students will construct a spider vivarium to observe
spiders, take a poll on who does or does not like
spiders in their classroom, and graph the results.
Several other activities explore the theme of spi-
ders across the curriculum.