Monsters and Pumpkins

This blog post will share with you a new pumpkin poem to use during 

shared reading time and some new monsters books! 

My friend Amy shared this poem with me.

How cute is this? 

Each child made a pumpkin 

that was attached to their name.  

click here for pumpkin poem

Click here for more Halloween poems.

 Interactive Writing in Kindergarten

I love how this teacher scaffolded the lesson by having the students write just one word.

Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson

Illustrations by Michael Robertson

There are lots of reasons why I love the book Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson.  This book is filled with action and humor. Winfred Schnitzel is not afraid of monsters that keep her up all night, but she is TIRED!  Can Winifred Schnitzel overcome her monster troubles?  Winifred Schnitzel shows high resolve using trickery and smarts to overcome the problem in the story.

This clever book is an adventurous read with rich vocabulary, bold illustrations, and a surprise ending. The use of rhythm and rhyme add greatly to the charm of this engaging book.

Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey
Illustrations by Oriol Vidal 

When reading the first page of this book, we learn that

Wally enjoyed a quiet, normal life…

…until one day monsters invaded his small town and made a mess of everything.

The illustrations are captivating,  easily drawing young children into the invasion taking place in this small town. The pictures are very detailed and give the reader helpful information about the text.

There are many opportunities that encourage students to try and predict if Wally will be able to save the town. He first tries to ignore the monsters, but that doesn't work! Eventually, the town is saved because Wally uses good manners.

This story has a great message for kids!

To be honest, when I first read this book I liked it but I didn’t love it.  When I read it to a few first-grade classrooms, the response was strong: students loved it.

The children’s response was so strong that after a few reading, I began to fall in love with this book too!

Happy Halloween!!!