1920s Speakeasy
On Halloween, I turn my classroom into a 1920s Speakeasy. Students are told about it weeks ahead of time so that they could prepare their outfits for the day. This year, we had flappers, gangsters, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone, and other characters from the 1920s. As students arrived at my room, they found the door locked. After knocking, I (dressed as a flapper) opened the door and asked for a password. If they knew the password, I let them in. If not, they had to check their Remind text messages for the password that I had shared the night before.
Setting the Scene: Charleston music (thanks to Pandora) was playing loudly, Halloween decorations were everywhere, a big sign welcomed them to the Haunted Speakeasy, black table cloths (made of poster paper) were on every table with pumpkin centerpieces and orange lights were up around the room.
The Lesson: Students were assigned one of 27 different characters associated with temperance and Prohibition. They learned about their character and then moved around the room meeting at least 10 other people.
Setting the Scene: Charleston music (thanks to Pandora) was playing loudly, Halloween decorations were everywhere, a big sign welcomed them to the Haunted Speakeasy, black table cloths (made of poster paper) were on every table with pumpkin centerpieces and orange lights were up around the room.
The Lesson: Students were assigned one of 27 different characters associated with temperance and Prohibition. They learned about their character and then moved around the room meeting at least 10 other people.