We started by singing the always fun "If You're Happy and You Know it." Since this was a Lutheran school, I was informed in the first class that we don't shout "hooray" but "amen." I went with it.
Then, I shared three stories:
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin is a fun one to read. The kids got a kick out of making "ick" and "yum" noises with the suggestions of what Peter the Tiger would make with his pumpkin. They even offered their own (including pumpkin fish and pumpkin chicken).
Boo, Bunny is a really sweet story that starts out like it'll be a scary one. The kids loved that the bunnies were dressed like a superhero and a bumble bee, and they were eager to help me with some of the words in the story (we all shouted "Trick or Treat" and "Boo" together). This one's got very few words and is really about the images. I was able to get the kids to predict what they thought would happen, which they LOVE doing.After that story, we shared the finger play of "Five Little Jack-o-Lanterns":
Five little jack-o-lanterns sitting on the gate (5 fingers up and point to each one)
The first one said "oh my, it's getting late"
The second one said "let's have some fun"
The third one said "let's run run run"
The forth one said "let's dance! let's prance!"
The fifth one said "now's our chance"
When whoooooo went the wind (blow the whooo)
And out went the light (make one loud clap)
Then the five little jack-o-lanterns rolled out of sight (roll arms).
Then I shared one more book:
This story is hilarious. The little witch and her cat capture all of the ghosts then do very silly things with them. The kids and the teachers were laughing so hard as we saw what she did with the ghosts, and there was again good opportunity to ask the kids what they thought would happen next. Every single one of them figured out the purpose of the last two ghosts, too.
With all of my groups, I played a version of "Little Mouse" more thematic to Halloween -- "Little Bat." I printed a little bat and 7 different colored hats, so we asked if the little bat was under the little hat. It astounds me how much the kids love this game. When I came into the classrooms, they were asking me if we were playing Little Mouse again and they were even MORE excited I'd brought something a little different.
For my Preschool and Kindergarten class, we played a few rounds of Little Bat so that everyone could have a turn guessing, but for the Day Care, we just played a couple quick rounds because they made a craft. Again, I stole from my favorite story time blog and had the kids make their own paper jack-o-lanterns. My wonderful crew of volunteers cut out circles, squares, hearts, triangles and some other shapes for them to make faces like these (photo lifted from above mentioned blog):
My pumpkin pattern was a wee bit different, but the kids made some awesome pumpkins and they were all excited to have Miss Kelly (yes, I'm Miss there) see their creations.I promise next week I will bring my own camera to capture some of their wonderful pieces of art!
Aren't there just so many awesome Halloween books for storytime? I had a hard time narrowing down my list.
ReplyDeleteI actually had another book or two in my box when I went and the kids were asking if the books were for them. I told them exactly that: there were too many good ones that I was still picking which ones to read when I got to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteLove your choices, I'm writing them down for next year! I also read Ghosts in the House for my preschool Halloween storytime. My second book was The Little Old Woman Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. I also did a non-Halloween storytime this week for some who don't celebrate, and read Dark Night, which is scary but not about Halloween.
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