The Sounds of Halloween #IMWAYR 10/21/2013

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme began by Sheila at Book Journeys as a way to share what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and what is in store for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading. I first learned about it at Teach Mentor Texts. 

I had such a fun week reading these four books to kiddos. I called them my Halloween sound books because each one had great opportunities for kids to help me "read' the story by doing the sound parts. 

My favorite was Bedtime in the Swamp by Kristyn Crow. It had a great repeating rhythmic 

refrain and we added some hand gestures to make it easy to remember and repeat. The kids LOVED this book about a ma trying to get her kids to come in and get to bed. This is a fun monster book that is not too scary. 

Splish Splash 

Rumba Rumba

Bim Bam Boom!

Splish Splash

Rumba Rumba

Bim Bam Boom!

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler  is a tough read aloud if you are trying to make the hiccups sound real so I decided to have the kids do the hiccup up part. They had so much fun hiccuping and my voice was able to survive multiple read alouds. Poor old Skeleton does his best to get rid of his hiccups with the help of his friend Ghost. 

Five Black Cats by Patricia Hagerty was a great rhyming lesson. Sometimes during library class, we play guess the rhyme game. I read everything but the last word in a stanza and the kids have to supply the word that rhymes. 

Even three year olds were able to guess most of the rhyming words.

Click Clack Boo! a tricky treat by Doreen Cronin was full of creaky, crunchy words and was simply a fun Halloween treat to read aloud. Farmer Brown does not like Halloween so he sets out a bowl of candy for trick or treaters along with a do not disturb sign then he dons his p.j.'s and covers up his head but the barnyard animals have other plans for him that might be part trick and part treat. 

Here is a useful Educator Guide for Click Clack Boo that includes enrichment activities. 

These four books turned out to be just perfect for this week's lesson-The Sounds of Halloween. 

This week I have been encouraging students to start thinking about which storybook character they want to dress up as for the Literature Parade. I snapped a couple of photos of what first graders were thinking they might want to be. I think these would make great costumes. 

Fly Guy add wings and a couple of ping pong balls for eyes. 

Piggie just needs a pink outfit and some piggie ears. 

I also read: 

The Other Bears by Michael        Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The illustrations were rich in colors and details and they drove the story. The most interesting part of the book was the descriptions of the bears in the story. The theme of the story was a good choice but I was not engaged in the telling of the story. I would have enjoyed this book more if it had featured each bear family and some interesting details about them rather than grumbling, whining Koala parents.

View all my reviews

I was so happy to receive these bookmarks from Claire Legrand. I can't wait to read her book The Year of Shadows. It looks exactly like the type of book my students would love to get their hands on. She has the most amazing business card. 

I am looking forward to joining my book friends tomorrow night at 9 p.m. EST for #virtualbookclub as we chat about Gennifer Choldenko's book Al Capone Does My Homework. Join us won't you?









Have a lovely reading week!