At the end of October, the students and teachers of SHSID were all excited to celebrate the spookiest of holidays, Halloween. In celebration of Halloween, the teachers and students had begun preparing and decorating weeks in advance. A spooky, and perhaps magical, fog seems to be covering the entire campus.

Puxi Campus Grades 1-3

Early on October 26th, as students from Grades 1 to 3 entered the primary section building, they were immediately attracted by the wonderful decorations in the lobby, the hallways, and their classrooms. To celebrate Halloween with more excitement and unforgettable moments, all of the teachers put on matching shirts with “Trick or Teach” written on them. On October 30th, all the children dressed up in a variety of costumes at school. There were many different characters such as the cherry princess, the mighty superheros from the Justice League, the noble snow queens, and plenty more. Furthermore, the originality and creativity demonstrated by each grade and class made this event more special. Some watched videos to learn about Halloween, some made paper spiders to decorate, some made DIY masks, and some even designed posters using Keynote on their iPads. The children got to enjoy some Halloween atmosphere and experience Western culture!

Pudong Campus

On October 29th, the spirit of Halloween took over SHSID Pudong campus. As it is one of our favorite traditions, students and teachers came to school in all sorts of funny, creative, and scary costumes. There were groups of princesses busily walking through the halls to class, superheroes gathering together to defeat evil on the playground, and all sorts of ghosts, skeletons, vampires, and witches eating lunch with one another in the cafeteria. The costumes were amazing this year!

Though we didn’t have trick-or-treating for Halloween this year, the fun wasn’t any less than we’ve had in previous years. Teachers were prepared with loads of activities and surprises to “trick” kids. It was a very special treat to see the joy on each child’s face as we put candy into their bags.

Parties are always more exciting when friends are together! That’s why we got the whole campus together for the Halloween Parade. All the teachers and students marched through the hallways with their amazing costumes while judges looked for the most eye-catching designs. The students with the scariest, funniest, and most creative costumes will be awarded prizes in the coming weeks.

After the parade, the highly anticipated Halloween Carnival started. While the students marched around, the teachers used their superpowers to turn classrooms into playgrounds—just like magicians. Each classroom showcased different Halloween-themed games and activities for the students to explore and play. Let’s see what fun and educational games we had here. The “Bat Aerodynamics Activity” showed students how to make a bat-themed paper airplanes go as far as they could, and the “Franken Buddies Activities” were crowded with first-grade students. While second grade had “Pumpkin Yoga” for those who wanted to test their flexibility, there was also a Spider-Man handcraft room for those who wanted to move their fingers. In third grade, the “Dali’s Halloween Schedule Activity” tested students’ understanding of time and the “Straw Skeletons” inspired students’ creativity. Teachers from fourth grade prepared all kinds of games related to the constellations and autumn leaves. These activities all challenged students’ knowledge, agility, and musicality. Last but not least, fifth grade hosted the “Bigfoot and Friends Mapping Activity” and a “Moon Poem Maze Game” to test the students on how much they knew about monsters and poetry. Walking through the hallways, you could hear the excitement and happiness of the students celebrating such a fun holiday.

Grade 6

At noon on Thursday, October 29th, Grade 6 held a Halloween classroom decoration and costume competition. At noon, students changed into costumes for Halloween and went downstairs to take photos. In the end, the students chose the most outstandingly costumed student to win a prize. You could see all kinds of strange costumes and lots of exaggerated and weird make-up in the corridors. Some students changed their appearance to become fairies or princesses, while others dressed up as cute pirates, demons, or vampires. There were so many witches and knights that it made you feel like you were in a magical world.

For YD class on Thursday afternoon, the teachers had prepared a variety of Halloween-themed activities. The students first learned the origin of Halloween by watching a video, and then learned more customs and cultural knowledge related to Halloween through the teachers’ explanations. Next, the students voted for the best Halloween costume of each class. The award-winning students were very excited.

Every time the students saw others in costumes they asked for candy. Teachers and other students generously gave them sweets to celebrate Halloween. The students all went home with various candies and chocolates. Looking at their jubilant appearances, it was evident that they had a wonderful time during these Halloween celebrations!

While enjoying the Halloween activities, the students not only enjoyed the company of their friends and the fun games, but also gained a deeper understanding of the holiday. They are now looking forward to our next celebration!

(Written by Jenny Zhang, Yonghui Chen, Dolphy Wang, Jingyang Gu, Yan Deng, Haoruo Li, Yuchen Xie, Yingying Pan, Yuting Gu Pictures by Teachers)