Monsters We Have Loved

Picture Book Month

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Day 25 theme: MONSTERS!

Monsters We Have Loved

My students love to hear monster stories, The stories are fun as long as they are not too scary. I prefer to use the type of monster books where the children in the stories have control over the behavior of their monsters. They can direct their monsters to shape up or even to go away forever. I have not forgotten how very real imaginary monsters can be to children. My memories are full of sleepless nights watching shadows floating around my bedroom while my grumpy sister would hiss at me to "go to sleep." 

Into the Woods and Seven Scary Monsters are two of my favorite read aloud monster bedtime tales. I make the stories interactive and it gives the kids a chance to understand that they can take control of their imaginations and overcome their fears. 

What would you do if your bunny was missing? 

You would go into "the Woods" to find him?

Read my previous post and lesson for: THE WOODS

Seven Scary Monsters by Mary Beth Lundgren

Get a sneak preview of many pages.

A young boy discovers seven scary monsters hiding in his room so he goes on the attack to be rid of them using purple felines, monster blasters, vacuums, boxes, and other clever devices. He uses a fun rhyming chant to scare the monsters away "Rick Rack Wrinkleshack, don't you dare come back!"

Seven Scary Monsters is a fun math themed story-time read aloud.

Math concept: simple subtraction

Language concepts: onomatopoeia words

Monster or Halloween themed math lesson

Materials: 

Large number 7

·       Seven scary yet goofy colorful monsters-individually cut out and affixed with Velcro or strong tape on back.

·        Two-sided sign attached to a flat paint stick

      1^st sign: “Rick! Rack! Wrinkleshack! Don’t You Dare Come Back”

·          2^nd sign: “Rick! /Rack! Wrinkleshack! Monsters, please come back!”

      Onomatopoeia words: Eeeek! Boom! Rip! Thwomp! Splat! Zap! Yow! Plop! Ouch! Wow!
     
      Pre-book talk 

     One at a time hold up and sound out the onomatopoeia words. Onomatopoeia are words that sound like the objects they name or the sounds those objects make.

      Sound and acting them out each word. Read the word "rip" and then tell students to please listen for a sound you will make. Take a piece of long paper and slowly rip it. Ask "What sound did you hear?" Rip. So the word "rip" sounds just like the action of ripping a paper." Next say "boom" and follow up by dropping a book or flat object from a height. The word boom sounds like the sound made when you drop a book or heavy object from a height. Continue with other words on list.

Do you ever worry about monsters? This time of year we see commercials for monster costumes or maybe your friends are talking about dressing up as a scary monster for Halloween. Today, I will tell you how to get rid of any monsters that might be hiding in your room. First of all, monsters are just pretend. They are not real, but people have fun scaring themselves by pretending a monster is out to get them.

Question: Are monsters real or pretend? Pretend.

Question: Do monsters live in your closet or under your bed? No. They are not real.

Instructions:

Count the number of monsters on the display board. (7) Begin story.

As story is read, pause and have a student come up and select a monster to pull off the display board.

Say seven monsters take away one monster leaves how many monsters? Count the remaining monsters.

Six monsters take away one monster leaves how many monsters? Etc.-Five, four, three, two, one, zero.

Now to the part-Monsters please come back! Zero monsters plus seven monsters equals seven monsters.

Last page. Who do you think the monsters really were? His toys.

Imagination

 

Picture Book Month 

Day 8 theme: Imagination

What would you do if your bunny was missing? 

You would go into "the Woods" to find him?

The Woods


The Woods 
by Paul Hoppe
Visit the author/illustrator's website

(Publisher description-Chronicle Books)
Being afraid of the dark doesn't mean being afraid alone. When a boy can't find his favorite stuffed bunny, he bravely heads into the woods to look for it. Instead, he finds a big, scary brown bear! But the  bear is just lonely, so the boy shares his night light and forges ahead with his new companion, until...they run into two frightening giants! As the boy continues on, he comes across other seemingly menacing creatures, but finds that—like him—they're just looking for some comfort and security before bedtime.

Why I love to use this book:
Children relate easily to this story. Many sleep with their own special stuffed toys to help them through dark and sometimes scary nights. It also offers them a chance to hear an age appropriate scary story when affecting a spooky sounding voice. Children like to make predictions about what is coming up next and enjoy when they discover the new scary character is not so bad after all.

Themes:
Imagination
Being afraid of the dark
Discovering solutions to problems

How I use this story.

1 box full of the type of stuff toys a child would sleep with at night (must have a bunny and a bear).
1 scary voice to tell the story
1 explanation of why I am using a scary voice (to make the story more interesting) this is an entry level "scary" book.

Ask children these questions:
What is pretend?
How do people use their imagination?
Are stories always real?
Are you sometimes afraid of the dark?

I next show them some of the toys I used to sleep with when I was little and tell them their willy names. Skunky the skunk and Spotty the spotted dog. I also had a one eye cat but I forgot his name.  I ask them "who sleeps with a toy at night?" All hands are raised and so I follow with this book synopsis.

This is the story of a boy who has lost his favorite bunny and does not want to go to sleep without it. The boy uses his imagination to try to find his bunny. He pretends the woods (a forest) has grown up in his bedroom and he has to go into "the woods" to try to find his bunny.

This is a highly enjoyable story and the children love the use of a scary voice and often join in and try to say scary things too. It's fun to predict what will appear each time the boy goes deeper into the woods.

I give this wonderful bedtime or anytime tale a solid A plus plus!