Halloween Week: Reading Fun

I saw this book at the store last week and I needed it.

Actually I need another Halloween book like I need a third leg, but that didn't stop me wanting it. I loved all the letters in their Halloween costumes and poor letter B's struggle to find an original outfit. Then a light bulb went off and I figured out how to use it in my classroom. Suddenly this book was no longer an impractical want, but a necessary piece to my curriculum. :)

So I gathered my 2nd graders for story time. It was a little tricky to read aloud since the letters sometimes have sidebar conversations, but the kiddos seemed to understand just fine. A few of the costumes are obscure, such as L is for lycanthrope, but I just figured it was a good vocabulary lesson.

The kids loved the book. The end seems to be setting up the story for a Christmas version. The students picked up on this before I even noticed. They were full of ideas for what the next book might be about. In fact, one little girl did her letter S is for Santa!

After they were done discussing, each student chose a die-cut letter.




I put the tough letters (Z, Y, X, Q) off to one side. I didn't want anyone choosing one of those accidentally, but I let the kids who wanted a challenge take them on.

Once they had their letter, they glued it to a lined paper. Then they chose a "costume" for their letter. They drew the picture (including a face) and then wrote about what their letter was doing. They had some clever ideas! Most of the students had no problem getting started, but a couple (aren't there always a couple?) needed some help brainstorming ideas.

J is for Jack-o-Lantern

H is for Haunted House


M is for Minotaur
(guess which of my students reads a lot!)

And my favorite...

X is for Dr. X (the mad scientist)

His little creator went on to write a story about the Halloween party Dr. X was throwing. I don't think that's one I'd like to attend!

P.S. We're linked up at ABC and 123 Show and Tell.