Wednesday, October 8, 2014

31 Days of Halloween - Day 8!

Thea Dewhickey is a nice little girl who won Second Prize last year at the costume parade. Her parents were so proud of her. Her parents really want her to win First Prize this year. They make all kinds of suggestions for beautiful, fluffy costumes. However, Thea wants to be the scariest monster in the whole wide world! Mr. and Mrs. Dewhickey drag her all over town to various Halloween Superstores, but do not want to buy her the costume that she really wants. They just know that an ugly, scary monster will  not win First Prize.

Fortunately, Grandma shows up and saves the day with her sewing machine. Thea is happy as can be in her scary dragon monster costume, but she certainly does not win a prize. The Prize Winners turn out to be her parents, who are wearing the type of creation they tried to force her to wear. (Thank goodness for Grandma and her sewing machine!) Thea is very proud of her parents.  


This is a good story to study plot with. 
I like to use chart paper to write out my students' ideas on how the story began, and what was the problem that cropped up?
What happened next, and how did the problem get resolved?

This story also lends itself nicely to a talk about facts and opinionsAhead of time, prepare a chart sheet with 6 different kinds of Halloween costumes (or put it up on a doc. camera). Tell the class that this year, these are the only costumes that are available in stores and they must pick from this list. Ask them to think about which costume is the best of all. 

Call them up, one by one, to place a big black or orange Magic Marker "vote" directly above the costume they would choose. Evaluate the graph when it is complete. Which costume received the most votes? How many more votes did it receive than the one that got the fewest votes? Does it prove that the witch costume (or pirate or whichever one wins) is the best? Or, is that just an opinion? 

PS Is Grandma wearing a costume in the story, or is she perhaps really a witch? Hmmmmmm.

Happy Reading! Till next time, Nancy

No comments:

Post a Comment