Halloween Lesson Plan: Shrunken Heads

Reading through the student worksheet will give you an idea of how this lesson works as I have not typed up a lesson plan for this activity yet.

This lesson can be a lot of fun during the Halloween season and it is also a great way to hit several Math and Science standards at one time. Incorporate writing standards into this lesson by having students write a descriptive paper about their finished shrunken head. Then read the papers out loud to the class. See if the students can pick out which shrunken head belongs with each paper.

Permission to Post

I think it is wonderful to be able to post student work to the web. I know my students love to view their work online!

I thought I would go ahead and share the form my district uses as the Permission to Post document. I have seen many versions of this document. You might find something out there that you like better. Or take this sample and adapt it to be whatever you need.

We hand the Permission to Post form out at the beginning of the year during Enrollment. We keep our list updated throughout the year and notify teachers of changes and additions to our "no list".

Skittle Math

The concept of using Skittles or M&M's in mathematics at the primary level has been around for a while. That is because it is a great project that can hit many standards and the kids love it! Click here for the lesson plan.

Put a twist onto this lesson by having students use Google Forms to help collect data. Then create an animated pictograph using Microsoft PowerPoint to display the data. Make sure to have students in the upper elementary grades that will be taking state assessments, share data results for tested items: minimum value, maximum value, range, mode, median, and mean.

Example of a Form which can be created within Google Docs.


Below is screen capture of an animated graph created in PowerPoint by one of my third grade students. I realized until after I posted the video, that this student left out the maximum value. But, you will get the idea of the project! I did not have my third graders figure the mean.



Video of my third grade students entering data into their Excel document to complete estimations of the total amount in an individual bag of Skittles as well as the amount of each color.