Halloween

Halloween is more than just a candy-filled holiday for kids—all across the country, it's a day when most schools decide to take a break from their usual seriousness of purpose and have some fun. Kids and teachers alike dress up in costumes, and although the day's lessons may still get taught, they have a levity that's typically missing during the rest of the year. And most kids return home happy and excited about what a great time they had in school that day.

The question is, why can't every school day be fun? Yes, there are important facts to learn and skills to master, but too often, even in the earliest elementary grades, they're taught as if the sole purpose of education was to cram in as much material as possible in preparation for standardized tests.

When my son was in third grade, he had a teacher who, though constrained by rigid state guidelines about what had to be taught and when, understood that making learning fun was an integral part of her mission. I still remember how excited he was when describing her class—"it's like if there's a fun way and a boring way to teach something, she always picks the fun way."

Fun isn't something that should only happen outside of the classroom. In fact, the most important thing teachers can do is make learning their subjects seem like play—whether it's Halloween or not.