Hangman

Yesterday I finished up teaching my lessons about Halloween. My final class of the week is really good and loves to participate. They also love to play hangman and I figured since it was Friday and almost Halloween, we could play for the final few minutes. The first phrase I put up was _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. I figured they might not even guess it, but about 10 seconds after I finished writing the blanks, a kid in the back guessed Jack O' Lantern as a first guess. They continued to guess every phrase without first guessing any letters (I just looked back and realized that I used "guess" a few times too many). They guessed "Trick or treat", candy corn, and werewolf, all on the first turn. They began to say things like "Wow...we are so clever" and "this is too easy", so I had to think up one they wouldn't get. I put up the blanks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. They sat in their seats staring at the board for 10 minutes. I asked them if they would be late to their next class and one kid said super seriously, "this is too important." This time they resorted to guessing letters and they got to _ C T_ _ E _ _ _ _ _, but they only had one guess before their stick man died. Finally, one quiet girl in the back asked "October 31?". As I turned around to write it on the board, the entire class erupted into cheers. It honestly was louder in that room than a Penn State football game. One kid got up on his desk and began to dance. It was a great way to end the week.