31 Days of Halloween - Day 21!

Space Case by Edward Marshall

Every kid in the room loves reading anything illustrated by James 
Marshall. His artwork is nothing short of hilarious. The plot in this story is great, too.

A "thing" from outer space decides to visit Earth on what turns out to be Halloween night. He (the thing) is not noticed as he clomps around with the other trick or treaters. The next day he goes to school with Buddy, the boy who somehow forgot to do his science project. Now the "thing" is mistaken for a robot. (There is more!)

Teachers, this is a Reading Rainbow Book, so you know it's good!

Time to address the Common Core:
Writing The story begins with the phrase 
                   It came from outer space...
Write the phrase on the white board and have the students finish with an idea of their own. Then they should illustrate it.
Vocabulary 
 Words from the story to define together:
natives    folks      appeared      noticed     origin
atomized        peculiar-looking specimens
primitive
Spelling
un  means  "not"    What do these words from the story mean?   uncooperative    unquestionably 
Math Problem
The thing from space lived 2  zyglotes away from Earth. A zyglote plus 2 zyglotes=6    How much is a zyglote? How did you figure it out?
Language Arts
Expressions are often not defined for children. Discuss these expressions that are used in the story. Have the children discuss it in groups of 2, then share what the expression means.

The thing from space was beginning to lose heart.
It must be that new kid from down the block.
The kids stopped at the schoolyard to stuff themselves silly.
"Good heavens!"beeped the thing.
Happy Reading!

Till next time,
Nancy

31 Days of Halloween - Day 19!

The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt

Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I've many curious things to show when you are there."  

Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again." 

"I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the Spider to the Fly.
"There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin,
And if you like to rest awhile, I'll snugly tuck you in!"
Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "for I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!" 

Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, " Dear friend what can I do,
To prove the warm affection I've always felt for you?
I have within my pantry, good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome -- will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "kind Sir, that cannot be,
I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!" 

"Sweet creature!" said the Spider, "you're witty and you're wise, 
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes! 
I've a little looking-glass upon my parlour shelf,
If you'll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself." 
"I thank you, gentle sir," she said, "for what you 're pleased to say,
And bidding you good morning now, I'll call another day." 

The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly Fly would soon come back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,  
And set his table ready, to dine upon the Fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple -- there's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!" 

Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,  
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue --
Thinking only of her crested head -- poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour -- but she ne'er came out again!

And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed:
Unto an evil counselor, close heart and ear and eye,  
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.

If there ever was a more chilly cautionary tale than this 100+

year old poem, I've yet to hear it! It will engage students of

all ages (maybe skip K). Read it aloud and ask for synonyms

of all of the bold print words or phrases. What are the three

questions that the Spider asks the Fly? What were her

three answers? Which answers signals a change in her

attitude, and what does the Spider do then? Students will 
find it helpful to mark important words or lines with a 
highlighter. It also helps engage younger students!

How does the Spider get her to come back, and what

happens to her when she does?

A Common Core standard is the ability to interpret themes.

What does the class think the theme or message is in this

poem/story? Is it still a worthwhile message to learn, 100

years later? Why? (Let's give some evidence, people!)

Other ideas spring to mind. A Circle Map about the Spider

character, and another about the Fly. What words from 

the poem can be used in each?

I love this video that allows the illustrator, Tony Di Terlizzi,

to share how he used his own black and white artwork as

well as computer-generated images to make the creepy

pages. View the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEKEaoNDSU8


Don't forget to check out the many, many awesome crafts
and spider-related graphic organizers on my "October 
Ideas" pinterest board. Just click up on the right!  

Happy Reading!
Till Next Time,
Nancy

31 Days of Halloween - Day 14!

CANDY.
THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT.

PERIOD.

Now that we have made the facts clear, we can proceed with tonight's favorite Halloween read:

BOO!

By Robert Munsch

This is a story about a boy named Lance who manages to use face paint to give himself the creepiest, scariest face ever! The story has a repetitive element to it. Lance knocks on a door. The neighbor makes some remark about how "cute" he is. (Lance is a boy with a white pillowcase over his head.) As soon as Lance removes the pillowcase and the neighbor gets a look at his face, they scream and faint dead away. (The children love the screaming and fainting part.) Well, Lance manages to clean two neighbors out of all of their candy, plus everything in their refrigerators and freezers. 

Already, Lance's bigger-than-Santa's-toy bag haul gets too big for him to handle, and he has to ask a policeman for help. The policeman drags the huge bag over to Lance's front porch. He doesn't believe that Lance has been to only two houses, so Lance has to scare him also (so he can show him how he did it.)

Finally, Lance is in his own home eating up his goodies when a teenager, who is really too big to be trick or treating anyway, shows up. He sees the gigantic pile of candy Lance has and determines to scare him out of it. He takes off his white pillow case and says "Boo!"

Do you really think he was scarier than Lance? He wasn't. He ran off crying, Lance dragged the extra loot into the house, and he did not run out of candy until next Halloween. 

A Common Core-worthy thinking and writing assignment would be to create a Venn Diagram together on the whiteboard, that details how Lance's Halloween will probably be different from your students' Halloween. Some may not even be allowed to roam the streets anymore, so go ahead and put that in the comparison, too. Maybe they go to some kind of alternate Halloween or Fall Festival Party instead. Once the class has provided details for what could be different, let them have a go at writing about it and adding their own illustration. Expect to see a lot of creepy Lance faces!

A brain break necessary? Want to get the wiggles out? I suggest this extremely creepy version of In the Hall of the Mountain King here:In the Hall of the Mountain King You Tube

Happy Reading!    Till Next Time, Nancy 

PS Yes, it is never right to take somebody else's candy. But you already knew that, didn't you?

   

31 Days of Halloween - Day 13!

Deep underground in a dreary old tomb 10 little mummies were stuffed in one room. Nothing to play with, no books on the shelves, Just 10 little mummies wrapped up in themselves. "This is the pits!" said a mummy one day. "I am bored stiff. Let's go outside and play!

Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates deserves a place in every primary classroom. It is a counting book that only goes up to ten, but it is so much more! This was one of the most popular books in my holiday collection. The stick figures are all big smiles as they come out of their tomb to have some fun.

The book is loaded with play-on-words that relate to Egypt and mummies. It is full of references to things like the Sphinx, sandstorms, and chariot races. Connecting something we already know (counting one to ten) to something we don't know that much about (Egypt and mummies) = connections =Common Core=new knowledge=yay for us!

A natural follow up (I would read this story to begin my math mini-lesson (can you spell engaging?) would be to do some fact family work using sums of ten.

Of course, if it doesn't involve some fun I probably would not want to do it, so here are some samples of wonderful mummies the students can whip up later in the day!

 These mummies were created from a coloring book page that was laminated, a plastic spoon, a toilet paper tube, a craft stick and two googly eyes, and a humble lunch bag stuffed with last week's grocery ad. I twisted a rubber band around the top and cut off the extra. Any kind of gauzy, white fabric that you can cut into raggy strips will work. Mine came from an old curtain panel that had lost its zest for life. Instant reinvention!

Hint: if making these in a classroom (we made the craft stick/googly eyes version, which they loved) you need to have a bunch of the fabric strips cut out ahead of time. Just make one yourself so you have an idea how long a strip each one will take. Two drops of glue will hold the whole thing together. Have the kids wind it tight!

Happy Reading, Math Fact-Finding, and

Crafting!   Till Next Time, Nancy

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5!

Another wonderful way to integrate science, art, writing and the upcoming holiday is to study the life cycle of a pumpkin. This is the absolutely best book I have ever seen on the subject. It is a very personal story of one boy who raises pumpkins, gives all of them away but one, and names his pumpkin Jack. Jack becomes a lovely jack 'o lantern but, inevitably, begins to go bad and gets tossed out into the now-empty garden where it continues to decay. The pictures show "Jack's" form curving inward on itself and beginning to cave in. It slumps down more and more until eventually it has mingled with all of the other decaying matter in the garden. 

This is a great discussion point for children who are sad to see their pumpkin go. Does anything good come out of their pumpkin turning into earth again? Well, yes! The next summer, the boy has a new bumper crop of pumpkins that all came from one pumpkin's seeds. He chooses a special pumpkin for himself and, of course, again calls it Jack.

It is a very hopeful and uplifting book on many levels. In just talking Common Core, there is the interaction that occurs between plants and animals, as I am sure some animals nibbled on what was left of Jack. There is the great cycle of life that can always be counted on. If you plant a seed, it will grow. Seasons will always follow seasons. This study is particularly meaningful if you have previously done a study of the life cycle of apples, because there is much repetition in the planting, growth cycle, and harvesting of both. 

Lesson Plan Ideas
1. Graphic Organizers on the Life Cycle of Pumpkins can be found on my Pinterest page October Ideas board (see link upper right).

2.  Listen to some gorgeous classical music (integrate the subject matter!)and watch a science video about the life cycle of pumpkins here:life cycle of pumpkins video

2. A cute idea that I have seen done is to hand draw a pumpkin template (or trace one if you need to) onto a manila folder. Cut 2 templates out of the one folder. Do this 3 times, so you have 6 templates to float around your classroom. Have the students trace the simple shape onto orange paper and cut out. Then have them draw 6 boxes in a circle along the edges of the front of the pumpkin, with arrows going from one box to the next. They must number, illustrate, and label each step in the life cycle. Have the words up where the class can see them, but do not put them in order. This project is important because using a nonfiction tool like making a label/being able to read a label is an important Common Core standard, even in first grade. Here are the words that you will need:

seed     sprout     vine     flower

green pumpkin       orange pumpkin

Of course the students will want to add a carved face to their project. You (the teacher, if you are one) can evaluate their work as a formative evaluation in science on the life cycle of plants. Aren't you smart!

Happy Reading! Till next time, Nancy

    

A New Reading Orbit for Me!

Last week I walked into Staples and suddenly realized that I did not have to buy any classroom supplies. For the first time in 12 years, I would not be standing at the door of a classroom, welcoming students in as the new school year began. This gave me a sickish feeling in the pit of my stomach. I love all of that stuff! The notebooks! The pencils! The must-haves! I felt....left out.

Then I walked out of the store and another thought hit me. A happier thought. I had not spent any of my own money on classroom supplies, or decor, or any of the rest of it. I still had money to spend on other things! And so my new life begins.

This year, I opted to jump off of the teaching carousel for.....who knows? This year, at any rate. My husband and I have just moved to New Hampshire from Florida, and I am thrilled to be able to enjoy the outdoors again. It is just gorgeous here. I have signed on to work as an assistant in a First Grade classroom, where I will run small groups and pretty much do anything else that is needed to run the show. However, I get to go home without any paperwork to do or parents to call, and I expect my headaches to be few. Best of all, my evenings and my weekends will actually belong to me.

Along with keeping up this blog, I wish to create materials that will help teachers to really put to use all of the great trade books that are out there. With Common Core a part of everything teachers are about now, read aloud books take on added importance. They must be selected not just for a fabulous story, but to illustrate a writing trait, or a reading skill, or to offer some information useful to science or social studies standards. It is my goal to offer only those books that will help teachers with their planning and grab students at the same time. Suppose one child falls in love with a book when you read it in class. The next book, another child is struck by the reading bug. That is how you build a class of diverse readers.....one real reader at a time.