Friday, October 30, 2015

Monster-ously Fun Bookmarks

It's almost Halloween and it's the perfect time to pass out these fun "monster" bookmarks.


You can download this set of four bookmarks HERE for free.


Or purchase this set of 16 bookmarks which includes 8 color and 8 black and white bookmarks for students to color their own.  You can purchase this pack HERE.


And if you'd like a little freebie for yourself, you can download THIS free monster calendar.

Happy Boo Day!...a day early.  =)





Thursday, October 29, 2015

Spooky Book Care Fun


$14.08 on Amazon


I love using the book Never Let a Ghost Borrow Your Library Book by Karen Casale to teach about book care. This week I have been using this book with kindergarten classes and they are loving it, too. (They especially like when I make kissing sounds for the part about loving your book soooo much.  ha! ha! ha!)



After we read the book, I have them complete a little sheet to review what things are harmful and not harmful to library books.  You can download a free copy of this review sheet HERE.

What are your favorite books to use to review book care?


*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Creepy Fun

Creepy Carrots!
$12.58 on Amazon

I have been using the book Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds with my kindergarten and fourth grade classes for a little Halloween fun.


I am trying to get over a little cold and don't have much of a voice, so I found this YouTube video of someone reading the book and showed it to both my kindergarten and fourth grade classes.



For my kindergarten classes, we discussed what type of book this was...fiction...and what made it fiction.  Then I let them draw their own creepy carrot.  You can download the coloring sheet for free HERE.


Here are some of the finished products.  

You may remember from THIS post that one of my requirements, er, um, goals this year is to get STEM certified.  To do that, I have to teach 5 STEM lessons. I decided to do a STEM lesson based on this book.


I found THIS fun Creepy Carrots! STEM lesson  from Smart Chick Teaching Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Students had to create a fence that would contain a carrot using the fewest number of craft sticks, but the fence had to be as high as the carrot was tall.



Here are a few of their project designs.  Some were more successful than others, but they all seemed to have a good time with it.

Overall, it was a pretty fun, if not creepy week.  What fun things do you do for Halloween?


*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Story Elements with a Spooky Twist


$13.80 on Amazon

One of my favorite stories to read leading up to Halloween is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams.


I use the book to teach about the story element of character, setting and plot.  A couple of years ago I made a worksheet to go with the story.  You can snag this freebie HERE.


This year I came across a video that has a song that goes with the book. I played it for my PreK, K, and 1 classes. They loved patting their legs to the beat of the song and doing motions for all of the clothing items.  It's such a fun song!

What books do you like to use this time of year?

*I'm an affiliate for things I've bought or used personally.  If you click through any referral links (if included), at no cost to you, I will earn a commission if you make a purchase.  Thank you for your support in this way.