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Photo Gallery: Eliot School Vocabulary Parade

Third graders showed off their costumes illustrating various words during a Halloween day lesson that was part learning, part just plain fun.

Before putting on their official Halloween costumes for an evening of Trick-or-Treating, students at John Eliot School dressed up as vocabulary words and paraded around the building during a creative lesson designed to boost kids’ word power. Inspired by the children’s book “Miss Alaineus” by Debra Frasier, the third and fourth grade classes at Eliot School used handmade costumes to illustrate the meaning of words such as “criminal,” “fluffy” and “ambidextrous.” The fourth grade classes visited one another’s classrooms and had the other students guess their words, while the third graders stood up and introduced their words before participating in a parade through other rooms in the building on the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 31.

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Photo Gallery: Trick-or-Treat!

Kids show off their costumes before hitting the streets on Halloween night.

Honoring a longstanding tradition, families in the neighborhood of Hawthorn Avenue and Nichols Road met up at the corner of the two streets on Halloween evening for photos and a parade of costumes before heading out to collect treats door-to-door. Patch was there to capture the moment in photos. Did you snap some great photos of your kids in their Halloween costumes or next to a pile of candy loot? Share your pictures with Needham Patch by uploading images below or e-mailing them to Becca.Manning@patch.com. Don't have a photo? Tell us about the best or craziest costume you saw come to your door last night in the comments below.

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Your Photos Could Make Your Kid a Halloween Star

Submit entries for Patch’s Little Pumpkin Costume Challenge with Heidi Klum now through Oct. 31.

Which kid in America has the most creative Halloween costume in the pumpkin patch? That's what we intend to find out with your photos and the help of celebrity judge Heidi Klum, who will select the Grand Prize winner. The Grand Prize? Patch will whisk the winner to New York or Los Angeles for a two-day, three-night trip for two that includes a meet and greet with Heidi, plus a donation of $1,031 to a local charity of the winner's choice. Nine runners up will also get a $1,031 donation from Patch to a local charity of their choice. Entering is easy. Just upload a photo of your kid, 12 years of age or younger, in his or her Halloween costume. Entries must be made by the parent or legal guardian of the child photographed. Full rules are here…

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Have a Safe, Happy Halloween

The Needham Public Health Department offers tips for having a hazard-free Trick-or-Treat.

Submitted by the Needham Public Health Department With witches, goblins and superheroes descending on neighborhoods this month, the Needham Public Health Department has a few safety tips to keep Halloween fun and safe for everyone. (Adapted from the American Red Cross)

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Patch Facts

Five Things to Do This Weekend: Oct. 29-30

Shop for kids' clothing and crafts, have some Halloween fun and support a bunch of great local causes.

It’s Thursday, and the weekend is right around the corner. Patch has your back with a few fun things to do. Check our picks for the activities to hit and some places to explore. Here's what's happening in and around your town.  1. Parent Talk’s Clothing, Toy and Equipment Sale 2. NHS PTC Craft Fair 3. Spooky Carnival 4. Charles River Rocks Party 5. Meet Author Shelly Santaniello Also this weekend: Don’t miss the Prescription Drug Take-Back Day collection going on Saturday in front of the Needham Police Department, 99 School St., from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Get rid of expired, unused and unwanted medications safely.

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Raising Needham

'Tis the Season for Candy Overload

Candy is inevitable at Halloween, but it doesn’t have to become a source of contention between you and your kids—or you and yourself.

I love Halloween. Aways have. And I find that I like it even more as an adult. The idea of being someone or something else for an evening is appealing. I also love carving pumpkins, drinking hot cider and dressing up the front porch. I love the neighborhood camaraderie and—yes, I’ll say it—the candy! I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so this time of year really calls on all of my willpower, which is limited to begin with. But now that I am a parent, and one child has my sweet tooth, I have to reel it in a bit. While I have only caught my daughter sneaking chocolate from her Advent calendar once, I am sure it has happened more than that. So, here is the dilemma: Candy is a part of the Halloween tradition; I love candy and am not prepared to be…

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Raising Needham

Dealing With Things That Go Bump In The Night

Bedtime can be a hard time for kids, but add in a fear of the dark and bad dreams and you have the recipe for a sleepless night.

With all the Halloween decorations popping up around town, it is a good time to talk about children’s fear of the dark and bad dreams. Just on the way to school today my son asked why there were bones coming out of a neighbor's front yard and a skeleton hanging from a tree. "Do people live underground?" he asked. I could see his little imagination running wild and wondered if this would be a topic of conversation at lights out later that night. Once I got my kids sleeping through the night with an established bedtime routine, I thought I was home free. The kids would be all tucked in, my husband and I would be chatting on the sofa and the night would be off to a nice, quiet start. And then the reality of a preschooler’s wild imagination …

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Audra Myerberg

1:03 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011

Thank you for your insight!   more ›

Getting into the Halloween Spirit?

Send us your Halloween decoration photos!

It's that time of year when tombstones sprout up on front lawns like morbid gray dandelions, front porches get overrun with cobwebs and ghosts start dangling from trees around town—it's Halloween time, and Patch wants to see pictures of Needham's best decorations. Know a great "haunted" house around town? Want to show off your fantastic pumpkin carving skills? Got a great set-up in your front yard? Send us your photos. Either add them in the comments below or e-mail to Becca.Manning@patch.com. Or if you know of a great place we should check out, send us the address or general location, and we'll go snap a few pictures.

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Share Your Scariest Ghost Stories [POLL]

Experienced the unexplainable or know of a haunted spot in Needham? Tell us about it.

With Halloween right around the corner, this is the time of year when everything becomes a little spookier. The early sunsets cast eerie shades and shadows on the thinning trees. The cold air begins to chill your bones at night. And all the grandiose homes of generations past seem more intimidating in the late night hours. Have you ever had a creepy experience you just couldn't explain, or heard the story of someone else who has? Do you have any haunting stories about the town of Needham, or some of the historic landmarks therein?  Here at Patch, we want to help you get into the Halloween spirit by featuring Needham's greatest ghost stories. Share your own personal stories, or the most popular tales of the town's history. You can leave …

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