Teachers, how do you handle Halloween with children who are not allowed to celebrate it?

My headmaster said I shouldn't NOT do halloween songs. But he also sees nothing wrong with completely ignoring all other religions except those that celebrate Christmas by ONLY singing Christmas songs at our holiday concert. I refuse to do that. We have many children who are from extremely diverse backgrounds. But this is a little different. I don't know if there's many fall/harvest songs that they would like. Most are like old Shaker hymns (Don't forget I'm the music teacher, so activities don't really work for me, just songs.) But I can definitely continue my search for fall songs. Thanks!

check out the teacher websites and search for Fall/Autumn themed lessons.....I'm sure there are some songs! It's tough....and I agree that you should not ONLY do Christmas songs...that is not fair!!

For those of you who don't celebrate Halloween anymore and are looking
for harvest poems and songs....Here you go!! Enjoy!


The Pumpkin Vine (song)

I looked out my window and What did I find?
Green leaves a-growing on my pumpkin vine. (2X)

Gree-een leaves, green leaves a growing (2X)
Gree-een leaves a growing on my pumkin vine.

...yellow flowers growing
...black bugs crawling
...pumpkins growing

You can add silly things that the children come up with like.........
...apples growing
...watermelons growing
...etc!
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Rain of Leaves by Aileen Fisher

It’s raining big,
It’s raining small,
It’s raining autumn leaves
In fall.

It’s raining gold
And red and brown
As autumn leaves
Come raining down.

It’s raining everywhere
I look.
It’s raining bookmarks
On my book!
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To Pumpkins at Pumpkin Time by Grace Cornell Tall

Back into your garden-beds!
Here come the holidays!
And woe to the golden pumpkin-heads
Attracting too much praise.

Hide behind the hoe, the plow,
Cling fast to the vine!
Those who come to praise you now
Will soon sit down to dine.

Keep your lovely heads, my dears,
If you know what I mean…
Unless you want to be in pie,
Stay hidden or stay green!!
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Pumpkin poem

One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)
But there is something I'll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?

(I'm so relieved since I have found
That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)
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Pumpkins

When you see me in the fields,
My orange glowing in the sun,
It's time to say goodbye to summer
and hello to autumn fun!!
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Pumpkin song (tune: I'm a little teapot)

I'm a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.
When I get all cut up,
Don't you shout!
Just open me up
And scoop me out!
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Vegetables (tune: Mary had a little lamb)

We are pumpkins, big and round,
Big and round, big and round.
We are pumpkins, big and round,
Seated on the ground.

We are string beans green and fine.....growing on a vine.
We are onions round and white....we make soup taste right.
We are carrots, orange and long...help us sing the song.
We are cabbage green or red....see our funny head.
We are corn stalks tall and straight...don't we just taste great!
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The apple

I have a little apple,
red and round.
On a tree it is found.
If you take a bite
You will see
Just how tasty it will be!
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Mr. Pumpkin (tune: Where is thumbkin)

Mr. Pumpkin,
Mr. Pumpkin,
Round and fat.
Round and fat.
Harvesttime is coming.
Harvesttime is coming.
Yum, yum, yum.
That is that!
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Two little apples (tune: This old man)

Way up high, in a tree,
Two red apples smiled at me.
So I shook that tree as har-r-rd as i could.
Down came the apples. Ummmmm, were they good!
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Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Sitting on the wall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Tip and fall.
pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Rolling down the street.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Good to eat!!
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Harvest Poem

When all the cows were sleeping
And the sun had gone to bed,
Up jumped the pumpkin,
And this is what he said:

I'm a dingle dangle pumpkin
With a flippy floppy hat.
I can shake my stem like this,
And shake my vine like that.

When all the hens were roosting
And the moon behind a cloud,
Up jumped the pumpkin
And shouted very loud:

I'm a dingle dangle pumpkin........
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Pumpkin Song (tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?
A round one, a tall one, a bumpy one, a squashed one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?
(You can add your own adjectives to describe it)
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Harvest Time (tune: twinkle, twinkle)

Harvest time is here again
In the garden we must dig
Carrots, radishes, onions too
All so fresh and yummy too.
Harvest time is here again
Won't be long till you know when!! (thanksgiving)
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You're the best! THANKS!!!!

Music, level: Kindergarten
Posted Sat Oct 5 13:39:55 PDT 2002 by Jessica Burnette ([email protected]).
Lakeside Elementary, Richmond,VA
Materials Required: Leaf cut-outs
Activity Time: 5 minutes
Concepts Taught: Recognizing a melody, Singing and using movement



I made up some lyrics about autumn that go to the tune 'London Bridges'.

Golden leaves are falling down,falling down, falling down.
Golden leaves are falling down.
Autumn time is here!

Get your rake and rake them up, rake them up, rake them up.
Get your rake and rake them up.
Put them in a pile.

Jump into the big pile, big pile, big pile.
Jump into the big pile.
Now, we have a MESS!

I sing this for my students and see if they can recognize the melody (most did). Then, I teach the song and we talk about why we would have a mess and how we would have to start over with raking. Then, I pass out leaf cut-outs and have the students act out the song. We are in a circle and they all put their leaves in the middle for the second verse (Put them in a pile.) The kids really enjoyed this!

In the Pumpkin Patch


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