The Blue Moon Is Full on Halloween ? Wow ! It's magic !

 

credits: Getty Images

"The moon remains, perpetually and since antiquity, a source of cultural wonder."

It's Blue Moon on Halloween? It’s first blue moon visible in every time zone since 1944 on Halloween. 

Last week, when NASA announced that it would reveal “an exciting new discovery” about the moon. It happened to be exciting news for space scientists - water and ice on the moon are more accessible than previously thought - but not the supernatural or extraterrestrial news many yearned for.

• Let’s learn more about the moon:

Moon updates have been plentiful this year. In August, scientists reported they had flashed a laser onto a NASA spacecraft that was gliding over the moon’s surface at thousands of miles per hour in order to measure distance between our moon and planet.  

credits: Gemini Observatory

In February, two astronomers discovered a mini-moon orbiting Earth. The new mini-moon has been named 2020 SO and is heading towards Earth’s orbit on a path far slower and lower than those of its forebears. It was tracked by the Pan-STARRS1 telescope at the Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii on September 17.

Now, the moon has another significant moment in store for witches and non-witches alike: On Oct. 31 — that’s Halloween — people in all time zones will be treated to a "blue hunter’s moon". 

A Blue Moon occurs on the rare occasion when there is more than one full moon during a month. (It doesn’t actually look blue.)

Astrology:

How this Saturday’s Blue Moon is an opportune moment for mend our bodies, minds, and hearts.

And after spending much of this year in a state of concern, confusion and anxiety, the Covid-19, this type healing energy may well come as welcome relief.

"Since this Moon is happening on Halloween and while the Sun is in Scorpio – a sign closely connected to the spiritual world – this Blue Moon is an obvious invitation to get super-witchy.”

 Narayana Montufar, astrologer

credits: Dominic Kesterton

via New York Times

Education:

Young skywatchers, take note: The moon will be full this Halloween night across the entire world.

This is a truly special confluence of spookiness; a Halloween full moon visible for most time zones on Earth hasn't happened since 1944, according to the Farmers' Almanac. It won't happen again until 2039.

But wait, there's more: The Oct. 31 full moon also happens to be a Blue Moon, a designation for the second full moon to occur in the same month. 

Blue moons are relatively rare as well, occurring on average just once every 2.5 years or so. We last saw one in March 2018. The next one is in August 2023.

A hunter’s moon follows a harvest moon (that was Oct. 2), and it theoretically signals a time to stockpile for winter.

The last time there was a "full pizza-pie moon" (a nontechnical term) in all time zones on All Saint’s Eve was in 1944. There was a full moon on Halloween in 2001, but it was only visible in the Central and Pacific time zones. 

The next full moon on Halloween that will be visible worldwide is expected in 2077, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.

Jon Han

New York Times 

• How to see the Halloween Blue Moon  with your kids:

The best way to begin your astronomical adventures is with the moon. It’s easy to spot and doesn’t require any fancy equipment to enjoy. 

On this Saturday, October 31, Halloween, there will be a spooky full moon — the second of the month, which is called a Blue moon.

“The moon is a really great opportunity for parents to engage their kids in the night sky because it always puts on a show no matter where you live,”. 

With their naked eyes, your kids can spot its craters and dark regions. While you watch, tell them the dark spots are remnants of ancient volcanic plains that once spewed magma across the lunar surface. 

Have them imagine what it looked like billions of years ago, an oozing, molten mess. 

Have a beautiful Halloween seeing Blue Moon! 

G-Souto

31.10.2020

Copyright © 2020G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

The Blue Moon is Full on Halloween ? Wow ! It's magic ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

sources: Space.com/ NASA/ New York Times Science 

October in review : the most read posts of the month

Paris Agrement

credits: Elyx Yak

https://www.facebook.com/ElyxYak/

Today the 4 November 2016 is special, a seed of hope in humanity's future ! 🌱🌍 I'm a green voluntary since the beginning of ClimateAction.

Today history has been made. The Paris Agreement to address climate change has entered into force!

"We are the first generation to really feel the effects of climate change – and the last that can prevent its worst consequences.

Today shows us what is possible when we join forces for our common future,"

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General 

https://www.facebook.com/Cop22mar/

Activity:

The Marrakech climate change conference kicks off on Monday. Here's one way your students can involved.

Some days before the official opening of COP22, why don't they show UN why it is time to act?

To do so, invite students to post a selfie with what they want to preserve on the planet, use the hashtag #ActionTime and tag/identify COP22 in the picture. 

Their selfie will be exhibited in the digital media zone during the Conference! They have a video invitation here

That's a wonderful new! After The COP21 in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015, working on the global agreement addressing climate change, this COP22 Paris Agreement is the best introduction I can have to the compilation of the most popular posts of October. 

Here are the most popular posts of the last month:

World Teacher's Day: Valuing and Improving their Status 

Education: Let's Support Goal 1 #EndPoverty 

Éducation: Vendredi ou la Vie Sauvage: Ressources 

Schools: Ada Lovelacr Day: girls in STEM 

Schools: Code Week EU? Let's go! 

Ensino: Muda de Curso: violência no namoro não é para ti! 

Schools: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in sciences curriculum 

Schools: It's Fall Back Time! Oh no! 

Schools : It's Halloween: Let's learn & have fun

As you could see, Before the Flood (trailer) newly appointed United Nations Messenger of Peace on Climate Change, Leonardo DiCaprio embarks on the role of a lifetime.

"Journeying from the remote wastes of Greenland to the burning forests of Sumatra to the halls of the Vatican, DiCaprio explores climate change's devastating impact on the planet."

Well, I will be back to posting some ideas and educational resources. 

G-Souto 

04.11.2016

Copyright © 2016G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

October in review : the most read posts of the month by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

credits: video National Geographic

Schools : It's Halloween : Let's learn & have fun ! Resources

Halloween
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/

Halloween! We all know that students love Halloween! So every educator has one or two activities to do in the classroom on Halloween.

Over the centuries, Halloween's already weathered a lot of changes, and I've summed some activities, two games and other resources to make your school students happy and have fun.

"Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition." 

credits: unknown

via Google Images

• Ancient History:

Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C., which means Halloween has been around for over 6,000 years and is one of the oldest celebrations in the world. 

Samhain
https://thenewpagan.files.wordpress.com/

• History of Halloween: Pagan Progenitor

It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. 

Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain (SAH-win).

On Samhain eve - what we know as Halloween - spirits were thought to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife. Fairies, demons, and other creatures were also said to be abroad.

All Saints' Day

Fra Angelico

https://en.wikipedia.org/

• Christian Influence:

Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day.

The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows' Eve—later "Halloween."

In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. 

Snap-Apple Night

painted by Daniel Maclise, 1833

https://en.wikipedia.org/

The Christian holiday is likely rooted in the Celtic holiday, Samhain, or a number of other pre-Christian harvest festivals.

• Secular Halloween:

Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. 

Edward Scriven's engraving of John Masey Wright's 

illustration to Robert Burns' Halloween

https://en.wikipedia.org/

The word appears as the title of Robert Burns' Halloween (1785), a poem traditionally recited by Scots. 

It was brought to North America in the 1800s by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest celebration around a bonfire, sharing ghost stories, singing, dancing and telling fortunes.

Anoka, Minnesota, may be home to the United States' oldest official Halloween celebration. Beginning in 1920, the city began staging a parade and bonfire.

Secular Halloween

credits: unknown

via Google Images

In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.

Resources: 

• National Geographic | History

National Geographic has a wonderful article all the origines of Halloween: Pagans, Celtic traditions, Christian influence, costumes, cards, Halloween Sugar Rush, pumpkins, magic and urban legends.

Halloween in the USA infographics

https://www.history.com/

• History:

History as well has different resources that you can include into your school curriculum telling the History of Halloween: videos, pictures, interactives, other.

Halloween

via Ancient Origins

Education: 

Halloween is a cross-curricular subject and students can develop their creativity in different matters. At the same time, they will evolve curricular skills.

The two articles on the National Geographic and History include a wonderful list containing useful information and resources that educators can explore on their own way, according students profile they are teaching.

Students will be encouraged to make a critical research using tablets and smartphones. They will be encouraged to be creative in their activities, have fun and learn about urban culture and traditions.

Gadgets help to prepare students to thrive in an increasingly digital world. And they love it! They are effective and vivacious in the activities that teachers propose for the course.

Curricula: 

Languages, Arts, History, Music, Civics.

A cross-curricular project would be awesome.

Levels:

All levels: (primary, elementary, high junior schools)

Teachers will adapt the activities to the level they are teaching.

Other Resources: Games & Doodles

• Google Doodle Halloween

Google Doodle interactive game Halloween

https://www.google.com/doodles/

"This year’s Halloween Doodle follows freshman feline Momo on her mission to rescue her school of magic. Help her cast out mischievous spirits by swiping in the shape of the symbols above the ghosts’ heads. And you’d better pounce fast - the ghost that stole the master spell book is getting away!

Google Doodles are always super fun. This year’s Halloween one is no exception. Before I say something, you should go and check it out. No, seriously. Do it.

Adorable, right? The Google Halloween Doodle is an amazing mini game starring a little cat wizard at Magic Cat Academy. 

In it, students play the protagonist, Momo the cat in a kind-of zoological Hogwarts. The game has you draw various shapes and lines to cast spells on ghosts and spirits as they try and get you - think Harry Potter. While they’re hard at work in the library, ghosts burst in, wrecking the place.

screenshot Google Doodle Halloween 2016
via TNW
https://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/

Students action is to fight them off. To do that, they’ve got to cast the right spell. This is done by drawing symbols that correspond with those shown above each ghost.

At first it is easy as only one symbol like a dash or an I appear. Soon though a ghost has a whole code on his head. This little game gets difficult pretty fast. 

As students progress, the ghosts get tougher and faster, and it becomes a fast-paced fight to stay alive. 

Students will celebrate Halloween by playing through five fun levels and beating devious boss ghouls along the way. 

screenshot Google Doodle Halloween 2016
via TNW
https://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/

I had a lot of fun playing the game. It's a real nice treat from the Google Doodle team. 

This game is especially great to play on a smartphone or tablet. A great game for students of any age. 

It’s a ridiculously fun way to procrastinate at school, much like I’m doing now. 

The inspiration for this year’s cat spell-casting game came from a real-life black cat named Momo (photo here) that belongs to Doodler Juliana Chen. It seemed like a good opportunity for a cat hero, since the winner of last year’s Candy Cup Doodle was Yellow Witch and her black cat. 

Pokemon Go Halloween game

https://www.pokemon.com/

• Pokémon Go Halloween

Halloween is here, and Pokémon GO has its own treats to give out! Started October 26 until November 1, students can receive more Candies than usual. Every Pokémon they catch will award six Candies - twice the normal amount finding the game’s spookiest Pokemon: Drowzee, Hypno, Ghastly, Haunter, Gengar, Golbat and Zubat.

For returning students, there’s also a motivation to play pretty intensely for the next few days. Keeping with the Halloween theme, there are more treats everywhere, and players will get double candies for catching and transferring Pokémon, as well as quadruple candies for walking with their buddy Pokémon.

It’s all quite nice if your students are still playing Pokémon Go. Some spooky Pokémon will also be much more common leading up to Halloween. Be on the lookout for more of the following Pokémon on your trick-or-treat route:

For more Halloween fun, students can visit Pokemon.com/Halloween, where they can download Pokémon pumpkin stencils and share their festive photos using the hashtag #PokemonHalloween.

Note: Pay attention to the age of your students on this activity. 

credits: Luna Joulia

https://www.elle.fr/Loisirs/

Halloween screen

credits: Luna Joulia

https://www.elle.fr/Loisirs/

• Have fun: Screens

If your students want to change the screen of their iphones or tablets for Halloween, they can download from here. I think girls will be more enthousiastic about that than boys.

• Literature:

Poem: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar A. Poe

credits: Gothic illustration 

BohemianWeasel

https://pt.pinterest.com/

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— 

    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door— 

            Only this and nothing more.” 

(...)

Students will read the entire poem here

Of course in the next lessons you will study the poem with your students,right?

G-Souto

31.10.2016

update 31.10.2021

Copyright © 2021G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : It's Halloween : Let's learn and have fun ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.