With all the ghostly, gremlin, vampire, zombie, mummy, skeleton fun of Halloween, it's good to remember the kids who don't like feeling scared.

The kids who don't like scary costumes.

And scary decorations.

And scary music.

Even when it is in fun.

And it's good to remember that that's okay.

In the midst of reading The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of  Anything, and singing Looking for Dracula, we also read Todd Parr's book The I'm Not Scared Book.

Amazon's book description reads:  With his signature blend of playfulness and sensitivity, Todd Parr explores the subject of all things scary and assures readers that all of us are afraid sometimes.

At the end of the book, Todd has a suggestion what to do if you are afraid.  Good advice.

Sometime tomorrow, amidst the Halloween fun and mayhem, in the afternoon when all the costumes are in bags and everyone is back in their civvies, we will read Bear Feels Scared.

Bear gets lost in the woods and gets scared when he cannot find his way home.  His friends form a search party to find their lost friend bear. They find Bear and all return to his home, and finally, "the bear feels safe".  

Isn't that what we all want - to be safe and surrounded by our loved ones.

A bit of reassurance when things might feel a little scary and we feel a little lost.

Just so that you don't think that I am a Halloween party-pooper, here is a Halloween poem freebie.  I think it was a McCracken poem from many years ago.

Click on the graphic to download a copy.

Just in case you cannot "read" the graphics:

1, 2 ghosts say boo!

3, 4 witches at the door

5, 6 Halloween tricks

7, 8 cats on the gate

9, 10 Halloween again!

happy Halloween

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Sandi

 

Today we did a little pumpkin construction.

We did not construct pumpkins.  We practiced our construction skills on pumpkins.

Hammering skills to be precise.

First the guts needed to be removed.

I cut the top off the pumpkin.   The kidlets did a fine job scooping out the seeds and pulp.

Some chose to use the spoon.

Others liked to get right in there with their hands.

Roasted pumpkin seeds for snack tomorrow.  Yum.

Once the pumpkin was de-gutted, it was construction time.

Golf tees, a furniture hammer, concentration, turn-taking, eye-hand co-ordination, self regulation...

And we have a pumpkin that will be full of holes (once the tees are take out).

I have a surprise for this pumpkin for Halloween.  Can't wait to see the kidlets' faces.  Heck, I can't wait to see it!  

check back

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Sandi

If you go looking for Dracula, you must go in disguise ...

First you need a cape, and a set of fangs from Halloween...

And you also need binoculars...

Looking for Dracula

But I'm not afraid

I've got  binoculars

I've got my cape and my fangs.

And so the adventure goes.

Charlotte Diamond has taken the traditional chant - Going on a Bear Hunt, and spookified it.  With fabulous results.  Intrepid adventurers tackle a spooky swamp, a huge lake and a haunted house.  I can't tell you how it ends - that would ruin the fun.  But, everyone is safe, promise.

Looking for Dracula is available through Amazon and itunes for 99 cents.  It is off the CD 10 Carrot Diamond; in my opinion it is worth buying the CD, there are so many amazing, do wonderful things in the classroom with, play forever in the car, songs.

This class has their binoculars at the ready and some fun actions.

Great mood setting.  Add your own actions.

                             

We are ready to go looking for Dracula.

Are you?

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Sandi

dem bones dem bones are gonna rise again ...

And Halloween is a good time for them to rise.

Last year I found a fabulous non-fiction book on bones to add to our Halloween fun.

written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins

published by Scholastic Press (2010)

juvenile non-fiction

suitable for ages 5 - 10

themes  bones

opening lines  

Large bones, Small bones.

Bones, Bones, Bones

Bones are alive. They grow as an animal grows, get stronger when they are strained, and repair themselves  if they get broken.  

synopsis 

Bones come in all shapes and sizes ... Jenkins shows the comparison and differences between animal and human bones with many of them depicted to scale.  Beginning with the hand and comparing it to that of a chimp, Jenkins moves  ... [to] comparisons of feet, femur, ribs, spine and skull from those of a human to various animials.  Joints, symmetry and adaptations for survival are touched upon.   

from http://tammyreed.blogspot.ca/2010/10/bones-written-and-illustrated-by-steve.html

I like this book because ... 

Bones is a visual delight; the text is secondary to the illustrations.  The cover intrigues the reader with a life size cut paper collage of a human skull.  The illustrations, in whites, greys and muted yellows stand out against solid colour backgrounds.  The book also tickles a sense of wonder.  The heavy femur of an elephant is juxtaposed with that of a human and a cat, and is placed next to the illustration of a stork skeleton. A gatefold page shows the skeleton of a "small" python, with almost 200 ribs. Humour also keeps the reader intrigued.  A rhinoceros  skeleton is chasing a human skeleton on the page about movement. 

 All 206 bones of the human body are neatly placed in groups, with the message "some assembly required" on the page before a gatefold pages with all the bones in their correct homes.  It is a book that can be pored over, read and reread, as well as a book that can hold the attention of a kindergarten class of 5 year olds for over 15 minutes.  

resources ...

The University of Texas in Austin has a website with photos and information about animals and their skeletons.  Under "resources" you can click on teaching activities and find a link to print out life size skeletons.  

MEDtropolis is the home of the virtual skeleton.  There is a guided tour of the human skeleton, the ability to zoom in for a closer look and you can assemble a skeleton.  It won't get you through med school, but it is pretty fascinating. 

Science Kids has a page with online games and activities about skeletons and bones.

For a little non-anatomically correct fun ...

A Q-tip skeleton.  This has been a little buddy - big buddy project for the last few years - each skeleton has its own personality even without all 206 bones. 

A paper chain skeleton - when there is air movement in the room, they "dance".

And the song that gets all orthopaedic surgeons through their residency

                                 

Bones is a perfect picture book for Halloween.  

A huge thank you to Susanna Hill for hosting Perfect Picture Book Friday:  your one stop shop for fabulous picture books for any and all occasions. 

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Sandi

Spiderman, spider man.
Does whatever a spider can.

It might be old school - but the kids love it!

So, we do the spider thing.

We make spidey hats (inspired by Robin's hats at Sweet Tea Classroom).

Eight legs  - two groups of four.

Two eyes (yes, most spiders have 8 eyes, some have 6, some have 4, but some have 2).

And a bit of spidey attitude.

Once their spidey portraits have been take, it's time for a little "S" practice.  

The kids glue their photos onto the web, fill in the missing "s"es, and print what they are good at doing (a heath and career education goal for kindergarten in my province).  Click the graphic for your free download.

Add my favourite spider font - click it to head to dafont for  a free download - and you have a quick, stop to read it in the hallway bulletin board.

After I take down our spider bulletin board,  the pages will be put together into a class book.  And do the kidlets  ever like our class books!

read on, Spidey, read on ....

      

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Sandi

Today was a writing day in kindergarten.

It was not in my daybook.

It was not required of the kidlets.

It was part of their play.

The day started with group of girls choosing a pre-writing activity.

Later in the day, a different group of girls were pretending to get ready for a dance.  Hair, nails, make-up ... the works.

Invitations needed to be sent out for the dance.  More writing.

Not to be outdone, the superheroes also needed to have a dance - a battle dance.  The superhero in grey is holding a sign with the initials of the organizing committee, and the turquoise superhero drew the story of the dance.

Writing for real reasons.  

Writing by choice.

Writing as part of their play.

Learning through play is nothing new.  

A couple millenia ago (give or take a a few hundred years), Plato stated:  

Do not ... keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play.  

wise man

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Sandi

B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B  -- BATMAN!

I don't know if that is the correct number of B's - but it seemed like a good amount!

Batman helps the kidlets learn beginning sounds.  And we start with their names.

First we sponge paint bats.  I put purple and black paint out for the kidlets to use.

When the paint is dry, we string paint of a bit of gold bling on top.  Sorry no picture - so I will try to explain with words.  I tie a piece of string onto the end of popsicle stick, mess the string into the paint so that it is all covered, and then tell the kids to make the string "dance" on the paper by moving the popsicle stick.)  

Click on the image to download the bat template.

The kidlets glue on small pictures of their faces.  And the bats go flying by the light of the full moon.

Then we sing our batsongs.  

My song would go /s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s - S-bat (because my name starts with an S).

Shari Sloane does it with the vowels.
       

     


happy hauntings,

            

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Sandi

Halloween is full of stories.

And story stones are great for creating stories.

Once upon a time, a skeleton rattled his way out of the haunted house ...

The pumpkin rolled down the hill and just about squashed the spider ...

"I think I am big enough to ride the broom now," said the little witch ...

During the summer, a former student painted some alphabet stones and a fabulous rock family for me. I managed to create some strawberries and monsters.  But I don't have the artistic ability to make Halloween pictures - but I can buy stickers and paint modge podge on top.  

I bought a bag of black rocks from Walmart and some Halloween stickers from a dollar store.  Two coats of modge podge and a three coats of spray varnish and they are ready for story telling.

Let the story telling begin!

I am linked up with Tara's Monday Made It - it's a month long party.

and with Tutus and Tea Parties

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Sandi