31 Days of Halloween - Day 17!

Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman is such a Halloween classic. It is a book that is actually meant to be sung, even if you are not a singer. Once the children catch on to the song, then you can act it out. The song is:Big Pumpkin on YouTube
It has the little "beeps" because it is actually an old cassette tape recording to read along with a book. It is helpful to hold the book out so that the children can read the pictures while they are learning the song. The beeps tell you when to turn the page.

You will find the children singing the song to themselves while they are working (love!). If they need a Brain Break, put on the You Tube song and let them do the actions while they are singing. It is also really fun to do in a circle!

You can put the words on a big piece of chart paper and leave it up on the wall for reference. It's great practice reading/singing!

This story is about a witch who wants to make a pumpkin pie on Halloween, but is unable to pull the pumpkin in her garden off of the vine. Along comes a ghost, then a vampire, then a mummy. They each claim to be bigger and stronger than the previous one, and each try but fail to pull the pumpkin off the vine. Last flits along a teeny little bat...and the others just laugh at the idea that the bat might succeed where they have failed.But the bat has a plan!

They form a line and pulling together, the pumpkin flies off the vine, rolls down the hill, and the witch makes a pumpkin pie which she feeds to her Halloween guests, remembering to save a pumpkin seed for the next year's big pumpkin.

For literacy centers, it is perfect for sequence of events work; who came by first, second, third, last? 

It begs for a lesson on -ed, since the refrain of the song is
      "well, he pulled and he tugged and he pulled. First he pulled hard and then he pulled harder." 
      "and she kicked that pumpkin."
      "...but they thought about pumpkin pie and stepped aside."
       "boasted the vampire (ghost, mummy)"

Other -ed sight words to teach include: wanted, planted, weeded, watered, poked, looked, rolled, started, called, landed, bounced, shouted, hurried, watched.


It is the perfect time to bring out your anchor chart with Mr. and Mrs. -ed on it to show that words that end with -ed always happened in the past.

And the dance along Brain Break movements? Just make those up! When pulling and digging, bend over at the waist, reach down and grab up and down, up and down....when she kicks the pumpkin, give a little kick, when a character steps aside, well.....step aside. Don't forget to say the witchy lines in a witchy voice!

Happy Reading and Singing and Dancing!

Till Next Time,  Nancy

31 Days of Halloween!

I was doing my usual blog-stalking the other night when I ran across a blog called "the nesting place". The author, Myquillan, invited bloggers old and new, to stretch their writing skills by committing to posting a blog a day, every day, throughout the month of October. The topic could be anything at all, for one month. Of course I had to attach it to books, teaching, crafts, food, and fun (all combined, in my experience) so here it is...31 Days of Halloween!                                
Welcome to Day 1- Oct. 1, 2014
My first book:

This is a lovely book that won the Kate Greenaway Medal. It is a story about a cat, a duck, and a squirrel who live together in harmony, sharing jobs like making delicious pumpkin soup together. All goes well until Duck decides that he is no longer satisfied with his job (putting in a pipkin of salt.)The others will not allow him to change his job, and Duck runs away. Now it is no longer peaceful in the little white cabin...

This is an awesome book to start the month of October with. First, it involves pumpkins, so nobody can say you are not seasonal. However, it is really a magical book about getting along, sharing the work, and caring about others more than yourself. Always good themes to revisit with little people!

 Happy Reading! More tomorrow!   Nancy