Jack-O-Lantern Joy

Tonight we finally carved our giant 40 pound pumpkin! It's pretty much a family tradition to carve the night before Halloween. If you haven't already figured it out, we are a last minute kind of family. We get things done, but not until they absolutely have to be done. It's something I'd like to change, but I'd like to think we work best under pressure. Our pumpkin turned out great, of course, and my husband was able to keep the kids occupied scraping and seed collecting for the better part of an hour, while I made cookies for a school bake sale. Now all that's left are treat bags for my students, packing up costumes for school tomorrow, and writing this post.

The carving was tonight, but I'd like to think we've been preparing for the actual carving event since we created our paper plate jack-o-lanterns last week. My son wanted to make scary faces and my daughter was just happy to paint, cut and glue. All you need to create your own at home pumpkin patch are white paper plates, orange poster paint, black construction paper, scissors and a glue stick.

First, we painted our plates, round side out with orange poster paint.

After painting, the plates need to dry. We let our plates dry overnight, but they were ready within an hour or so. While your plates are drying you can cut shapes out of black construction paper to serve as your jack-o-lantern eyes, nose and mouth. My son drew his shapes with a white crayon before cutting and my daughter just hacked away at the construction paper until she had some pieces that resembled eyes, nose and a mouth. She may have had a little help from her brother too. Drawing and cutting the face of the jack-o-lantern can be a great shape review.

When the plates are dry, you can commence gluing the construction paper shapes onto the orange pumpkin.

Now all that's left is to display your cute little pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!

Room on the Broom

There are so many fabulous Halloween children's books, so this week's book selection took a bit of thinking. Lately, I find myself saying to my students almost daily, "Today I'm going to read you one of my favorite stories." The truth is I'm not crazy about Halloween and I'm not a huge fan of scary things, but you say the word Halloween in Kindergarten and the kids get super excited. Their small little faces light up with glee at the mere mention of the word. I could be wrong, but I think it might have something to do with the candy. So even though, I'm not jumping for joy as Halloween approaches, I can appreciate a good holiday themed book. I also love the rhyme and repetition of this particular Halloween read. The illustrations are vivid and colorful as well (I'm a sucker for cutesy illustrations).

Room on the Broom, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, tells the story of a witch and her cat out for an evening ride on her broomstick. As the weather picks up, her things take flight. Some friends help her retrieve her things, but want a ride in return. Will the broom be able to carry all of her friends? What will happen when a dragon wants to eat the witch? You'll have to read to find out!

The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything

When I went to college, I knew I wanted to become a teacher. I grew up living next door to my grandmother and aunt, both of whom were high school teachers, and I loved to read and learn new things. What could be a better profession for me than instilling that love of learning to others? Tonight, as I read my son's book baggie homework with him, I was reminded of how amazing learning is. He brought home his first sight word ring and surprised me by reading many of the words without assistance. Young learners are like amazing little sponges. Eager, willing and full of life.

As I was thinking about what book to review for you tonight, I was thinking back to all of the groups of students I've taught in college and as a classroom teacher. I thought of all of the Fall and Halloween books that I own and use and I thought way back to a practicum in a first grade classroom during the Fall of my senior year. One of the first solo lessons I taught in that classroom was with the book The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Being the novice that I was at the time, I believe my cooperating teacher suggested the activity to go along with this book, but I've used it every year I've taught with all of my kindergarten through second grade classes and each class loved it.

In The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything a little old lady is out for a walk in the woods when she encounters some lively clothing. Instead of becoming scared of the boots clomping, pants wiggling, a shirt shaking, gloves clapping, a hat nodding, and a pumpkin head booing behind her the little old lady keeps on walking. When she reaches her house, she comes up with a great idea for the clothing that wants to scare.

When reading this story I always hand out clothing (a hat, a pair of gloves, pants, boots, etc.) students so that we can act out the story as we read. They have so much fun acting and retelling. This book is the perfect blend of scary and smart with a great surprise ending kids will love. What are you afraid of?

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

By Linda Williams

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Firehouse!

I am a HUGE fan of Mark Teague, author and illustrator of several fabulous picture books including Pigsty, Funny Farm and Firehouse!. Firehouse! is a great choice for teaching about Fire Safety or Community Helpers (we just happen to be learning about both this week) and tells the tale of Edward and his cousin Judy as they visit the fire station. Edward and Judy take a tour of the fire station, help clean the truck, and even get to go out on a call and help save the day. Full of colorful illustrations and everything you need to know about a fire station, my five year old son gave this book two big thumbs up!

Firehouse!

By Mark Teague

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