The Topic:  Ghosts, Ghouls & Goblins Easier - Halloween is a holiday that occurs annually on October 31. Children often celebrate by dressing up in strange costumes and going door-to-door begging for treats.   Harder - In Celtic, pre-Christian times the evening of October 31st, then known as the festival of Samhain, was believed to be the night when the souls of the dead were out and about. Samhain was the Celtic Lord of Death. This was the biggest festival of the Celtic year. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. The Celts believed that during Samhain, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because the souls of those who had died during the year were then traveling into the otherworld. The following day, November 1st was the beginning of the Celtic new year.   By 800 A.D. the Christian church established All Saints' Day on November 1, so that people could continue celebrating the festival. The evening before All Saints' Day became known as All Hallows' Eve. Learn more about the history of this celebration at Halloween by J. Santino (http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html) at the Library of Congress and History and Customs of Halloween (http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm).     About Halloween  http://rats2u.com/halloween/halloween_index.htm This is a large guide to Halloween animations, clip art, virtual cards, Halloween costumes, events, party recipes, pumpkin carving, haunted houses, other Halloween links, and lots more.   Halloween from History Channel http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/hallowmas.html  Site features facts about Halloween history, jack-o-lanterns, ghost stories, and more.   Jack O Lanterns from Everything Halloween http://everythinghalloween.com/jack/index.html Here you find costume ideas, design tips for pumpkin carving, links to virtual haunted houses, games, and lots more.   The Moonlit Road  http://www.themoonlitroad.com/ Here are ghost stories and strange folktales of the American South, told by the region's most celebrated storytellers. You are invited to light a lantern, open the gate and come take a walk down The Moonlit Road.     After visiting several of the websites, complete one or more of the following activities.   Complete Some Online Halloween Activities. Play an official Halloween safety game. Go to Halloween Safety (http://www.halloweenmagazine.com/play.html) and complete the quiz. If you are going to go door to door trick-or-treating, you should play. Also try the online activities at Halloween Lesson (http://www.englishpage.com/holidays/weeklylessonhallojv.html) from the English Page.   Have a Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Get started with the ideas at (1) Great Pumpkin Carving (http://gophergirl.freeservers.com/), (2) Pumpkin Carving 101 (http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/), (3) Pumpkin Carving 101 (http://www.halloweenonlinemagazine.com/carve/), (4) Jack O Lanterns (http://everythinghalloween.com/jack/index.html) and (5) Pumpkin Masters! (http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/). Join with friends and family, vote on your favorites, have lots of different categories. Everybody wins!   Plan A Halloween Party. Find links to all kinds of party ideas at (1) Halloween Central (http://rats2u.com/halloween/halloween_index.htm) and (2) Halloween Recipes and Parties (http://rats2u.com/halloween/halloween_recipes.htm#parties). Decide on the decorations, food, games, and (3) your Halloween Costume (http://everythinghalloween.com/costumes/index.html). Don't forget the invitations and cards: Find e-cards at (4) Animated Halloween Greeting Cards (http://rats2u.com/calendar_gh/calendar_halloween.htm), (5) Ghost Cards from Halloween Kids (http://www.halloweenkids.com/k_ghostcards.htm) and (6) Halloween from Yahooligans! E-Cards (http://ecards.yahooligans.com/category?g=8). Now that you have gone to all this trouble, why not invite your friends and have a real party! Have a great, spooky time.   Create a Spooky Story. You can read some spooky stories at (1) Halloween Fun (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7424/hallo.html) and read some fun stories. Or you may want to write one completely 'from scratch' -- all by yourself. Be sure to visit (2) Erica's Spooky Ghost Stories (http://www.geocities.com/twobits_2/ghoststories.html), (3) North Carolina Legends and Ghost Stories (http://www.state.nc.us/secstate/kidspg/legends.htm) or (4) The Moonlit Road (http://www.themoonlitroad.com/) for more stories.   Try Your Hand at Songwriting. Christmas has its carols. Easter has music too. Visit Halloween Carols (http://www.night.net/halloween/halloween-carols.html-ssi) and Halloween Songs (http://rats2u.com/halloween/halloween_books.htm#songs) to get the ideas going for this season. Then see if you can come up with your own Halloween song. You might want to start with just writing a poem.   Complete a Halloween WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found at one of the following webQuest sites.  1) Happy Halloween (Be Safe on Trick or Treat Night) by A. Ford http://www.stonewall.fayette.k12.ky.us/wq/halloweensafetywq/halloweensafetywq.htm 2) We're Going Batty! by A. Schaffner http://www.lfelem.lfc.edu/tech/DuBose/webquest/schaffner/bats.html 3) Halloween Webquest by L. Everton http://scroggs.chccs.k12.nc.us/~leverton/Halloween/halloween_webquest.htm 4) Halloween WebQuest (Grades 3-5) from Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/webquest025.shtml 5) Halloween WebQuest http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/8328/halloweenWQ.html   Absolutely Halloween  http://www.abhall.com/ Here you find how to build a 3D haunted house, Halloween games (both online and offline), an interactive Halloween story, Halloween sounds, and monster riddles.    Happy Halloween from Ben & Jerry's  http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/ Learn how to make your own spooky decorations. Print out these craft pages, color them, cut them out and fasten them together to make your own Halloween decorations (Each year, this webpage goes up on Friday, October 15).   Halloween Crafts from Kids Domain http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/_Hallo.html This site has some fun craft projects for home or school.    Halloween Poetry from Alphabet Soup http://www.alphabet-soup.net/hall/hallo5.html Here you find a small collection of Halloween poems. Another Poem Site: 2) Poems (Halloween) http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7217/hallowpg2.html   Jan's Haunted Mansion  http://www.janscourtyard.com/ Visit a virtual haunted mansion and graveyard.   Fright Site from Detroit News http://detnews.com/halloween/ Skulk around here in their Halloween house of horrors. Read a story, play a game, send a ghost card, fill up on gore lore, and you'll feel like a brand new maniac.   Fun Halloween Riddles http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/halloween/games/jokes.html Here you find a bunch of Halloween riddles.   Halloween Fun http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7424/hallo.html This site has lots of Halloween activities.   Pumpkins from EduScapes 42eXpore http://www.42explore.com/pumpkins.htm Learn all about pumpkins at this site.   Trick-or-Treat for Unicef  http://www.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/ The "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" tradition began in Philadelphia in 1950 when a youth group collected $17 in decorated milk cartons on Halloween to help children overseas. Since then, U.S. children have collected more than $100 million by going door-to-door with the trademark orange collection boxes on Halloween.   Websites for Teachers Halloween Help for Teachers http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/holidays/halloween/ Here you find a collection of classroom activities, worksheets, and resources for Halloween.   Halloween Theme from A to Z Teacherstuff http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/themes/Halloween.shtml This site has lesson and unit plans, printable handouts, activities, songs and poems, and more fun Halloween stuff. Similar Sites: 2) Halloween from The Teacher's Corner http://www.theteacherscorner.net/seasonal/halloween/ 3) Halloween Lesson Ideas http://teachingheart.net/halloweenlesson.html 4) Halloween Lesson Plan http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/holidays/halloween/ 5) Halloween Lesson Plans and Thematic Units http://www.theteachersguide.com/halloweenlessonplans.htm 6) Happy Halloween http://www.teachingheart.net/halloweenindex.html   SPOOKtacular Lessons for Halloween! by C. Bafile from Education World http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson283.shtml Ghosts and goblins are about. Is there any doubt that Halloween is here? Here are five lessons that have students using their reading, writing, and research skills -- and more!   Halloween Celtic ghost festival All Hallows' Eve' bobbing for apples pumpkin antics jack-o'-lantern skeleton disguise masquerade witches costume holiday custom trick or treat mumming Christianity celebration haunted house graveyard storytelling fortune telling black cat goblin apple dracula Druids bat       Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 10/99. Updated by Nancy Smith, 10/03.