This is the Pumpkin, and Even More Halloween Books

This is the Pumpkin by Abby Levine is a new favorite Halloween book! 

Told in verse, the story of Max's Happy Halloween Day unfolds as he dresses in his scary green costume, goes to a party at school, carves pumpkins at home, and finally gets to walk around the neighborhood saying "Trick or Treat" and collecting candy.

What makes it great for a read aloud is that every couple of pages, it repeats lines and adds to it.***  What makes it a great lap book is that a new reader can start each set of lines by reading, "This is...."

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro is one of them!

My son loves this series. We read all the books, buy them when we see them, and even watch them on video. 

***Books written in similar style with choral rhyme include

The House that George Built

There Was an Old Lady series

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Good Night Goon  by Michael Rex 

is pretty awesome if you like the book it parodies, Good Night Moon. It's got claws and jaws and hats and bats! You can watch it on video, but your child may want a copy of their own. We read it year round, and my son is a scaredy cat who still loves it!

Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet! by Lisa Desimini

What a surprise we had when we saw this book included twin sisters Delia and Ophelia! The two sneaky sisters perform a spell with the help of stolen stinky socks, and the neighborhood kids are denied their precious trick-or-treat candy when all they can say is, "Smell my feet!" Read the book yourself or watch the read aloud video to see if Halloween is saved!

Trick-or-Treat on Milton Street by Lisa Bullard

This story has a heartwarming ending! Charley's mom is sick on Halloween, so he has to spend his first Halloween in his new house in an unfamiliar neighborhood with his embarrassing stepdad. He wishes he had friends nearby to trick-or-treat with because he imagines the old people in his neighborhood wanting to carve green peppers, losing their dentures while bobbing for apples, and giving out vegetables as treats. Charley notices some familiar voices in the costumed adults he visits, and ends up with a nice surprise at the end. His only question is why Dave didn't dress up, aside from his goofy hat. His response? "It's the same one my dad wore when he took me out to trick-or-treat on Milton Street. I thought the best costume I could wear tonight was to dress up like a dad." <3

Pete the Cat: Trick-or-Pete by James Dean

We own the paperback version of this book and love it, but the board book one with flaps to lift is even more fun! We are big fans of Pete the Cat in our house, and we even have a daughter named Callie. She loves hearing her name in stories, so she loved this one. Our son Austin is a big Halloween fan, but also a bit nervous about the scary side of it. This book helps him remember that there are people wearing the costumes, and usually it's someone he knows! Here is is in read-aloud form.

Check out more Halloween posts here.

International Day of the Girl 2021 - Ways to Celebrate

International Day of the Girl is celebrated every year on October 11. It was declared by the United Nations to amplify the voices of young girls around the world and increase awareness of issues faced by them. According to the United Nations, achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an integral part.

This year the theme of International Day of the Girl is 'Digital Generation, Our Generation.' UNICEF believes in acknowledging the growing digital world and how a digital gap can also widen the gender gap.

Click the book to find it online.

130 million girls didn’t go to school today— not because they didn’t want to, but because they weren’t given the chance.

An excerpt from a project I did reads, "Education is something we take for granted nowadays in the United States because according to law, all students are entitled to a free and appropriate public education. This isn't the case all over the world.

Some of my students wouldn’t get educated at all in other countries. Others wouldn’t be able to go to school some days if they hit puberty and didn't have access to self care items or because of social norms.

This project's goal is to empower girls to further their educations and make a difference in the world by giving them material to read about fabulous women in history as well as changes that will happen to their bodies and minds as they grow up. It will educate all students on the accomplishments of females of all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and cultures throughout the history of the world. My hope is that the girls will grow up with the confidence that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to. I envision a bright future for them without a gender wage gap and feeling like every job is accessible to all."

“The ability to read, write, and analyze; the confidence to stand up and demand justice and equality; the qualifications and connections to get your foot in that door and take your seat at that table—all of that starts with education.”

–Michelle Obama, Let Girls Learn speech, International Women’s Day 2016

There are many things we can do to empower and advocate for girls, including fighting for equal educational opportunities and access to jobs regardless of their sex. 

Ways to Celebrate

1. Start young - check out this Sesame Street "Girl Muppets Around the World" on Google Earth 
2. or Google Earth project I created from the book The International Day of the Girl.
   
   
   
3. Research a female** who has done great things and to create a digital presentation (check out mine on Sutori or use Google Slides) or write an opinion essay. 
4. Make a digital poster to post publicly, in schools, libraries, and other public places. It should persuade a person to listen to, watch, read, support, etc. an important female** in history.
5. Create a ____ Day (such as Amelia Earhart Day) in honor of an important female**. Be sure to select a date of significance from that person's life. Make a poster or calendar header with at least 3 facts listed.
6. Participate in Hour of Code. The official event takes place December 6-12, but you can do these coding activities year round.
7. Fundraise or donate to organizations that make this initiative a priority.

**especially consider women from groups that are underrepresented in media, print, etc.

Looking for more?

Read about Brenda Berkman, first female FDNY firefighter and advocate for gender equality in the workforce here.

See my completed DonorsChoose project titled "You Glow Girl! Celebrating HERstory" here. You can find some great books to display in your class library and use for research. Be sure to click "View Complete List" under "Where Your Donation Goes" to see all resources.

Another fully funded DonorsChoose project was created to encourage females to consider STEM careers. Check out "I See Me, A Scientist to Be!" here, where you'll find a book list as well as other science materials. Books include biographies of important women scientists, such as astronauts Sally Ride and Ellen Ochoa, physicist / chemist Marie Curie, and anthropologist Jane Goodall as well as postcards that will teach students about lesser known female scientists. 

This is a book project of fiction and non-fiction includes characters from all different backgrounds. It's from a funded Donors Choose project titled "I See Me and the Color of My Words," which you can see here. Students who are Hispanic, Asian, Native American, African, African American, Jewish, Muslim, disabled, adopted, and in foster care or just facing challenges will be able to say, "I see me in this story!" They will also be able to reach outside their own life experiences to understand how others feel through reading.

Blue Ridge Babies 1, 2, 3: A (Non-babyish) Counting Book

My son and I were perusing the library shelves after story time and we came across a book titled Blue Ridge Babies 1, 2, 3. It had a cute cover and we have been working on addition, subtracting, and counting as well as reading number words, so I decided to look it over. Seeing the cute pictures and words were written in word form meant it went into our large check out pile. When I got it home, it was so much more than a book to read with my preschooler! 

Buy the Book  or watch the  Video

For those of you homeschooling, or teaching PreK-3, this book has so much to offer, including a song! I made a printable activity that I did with my son, and here is what we covered.

Click the images above or here to download.

If I was using this with my fourth grade class, we would locate the Blue Ridge on Google Earth. I'd ask, "Where else might a biome like this be found in America? Where might it be found in the rest of the world?" Then we would make our own books for other biomes.

Snag a free book template by clicking the image below or here. It's editable, so you can share a copy on Google Classroom, via email, or even adapt and print a copy for students to write and draw on.

Learn more about the writing, illustrating, and publishing process this book went through here:

 https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/book-giveaway-blue-ridge-babies-1-2-3-a-counting-book-by-laura-sperry-gardner/

Firefighters to the Rescue and other Fire Safety Month resources

 October is Fire Safety Month! I make sure my students are well educated on the topic because I am married to a firefighter. My son thinks first responders are the most amazing super heroes! We've recently added a few more books to our rotation as we learn more about the technical aspects of the job and a push to include more women and minorities in the profession.

 

The Amazon book listing for Send a Girl: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY says, "Brenda Berkman was often told that she couldn't do certain things because she was a girl. When she grew up, she longed for a job that was challenging, different every day, and required physical and mental strength. In 1977 when the New York City Fire Department finally complied with the Civil Rights Act (from 1964) by allowing women to take the FDNY exam, Brenda jumped at the chance. But the FDNY changed the rules of the exam so women wouldn't be able to pass it. Even a lot of men couldn't pass this new exam. So Brenda Berkman took the FDNY to court. In 1982, they finally made a fair test, and Brenda and 40 other women passed. She then founded the United Women Firefighters, an organization that helps train and prepare women to be firefighters. Brenda went on to serve in the FDNY for 25 years, reaching the positions of Lieutenant and Captain, and was a first responder during the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Send a Girl! is Brenda Berkman's inspiring story."

Want to use this book for a lesson, or need something a bit more mature for middle and high schoolers? Check out this Sutori timeline I made. It's great for Fire Safety Month, Women's History Month, or learning about the Civil Rights Act.

We also read another non-fiction story to learn more about the career as well as get ideas for building with LEGOs. The Amazon listing says,

"Join the LEGO minifigures on an exciting adventure as firefighters race to the rescue around LEGO City in Firefighters to the Rescue. Learn amazing facts about their rescue vehicles, daily tasks, and heroic rescues. Bursting with stunning photographs, fun facts, mini comics, building ideas, and stickers, Firefighters to the Rescue is the perfect book for any young reader."

I made this fun printable pack when we learned about the letter F. It includes a do-a-dot page, a maze, a vocabulary page for memory match, and word search,

We know part of the job is reading signs, so we revisited an old post of mine about environmental print. In our neighborhood and home, we look at and read signs for fire hydrants and extinguishers, and standpipes. 

We also practice making emergency calls to get help from first responders. Here is what we determined my son (and your children / students) should know.

Read more about fire safety and Fire Safety Month!

13 Days of Halloween and Other Halloween Books

 My son loves Halloween and all things fall! We have spent a lot of time decorating and reading library books on the topic. I've chosen some of our favorites to share with you. These stories are great for reading at home or in the classroom.

The 13 Days of Halloween by Carol Greene

I chose this book for my husband to read to our son at bedtime, and I know it would be a favorite if I read it to my class. If you know the 12 Days of Christmas song and story, this one follows the same pattern. There's one caveat, though - there are 13 days and the last one is a cliffhanger. It's the perfect way to get children involved in writing the ending!

Six Creepy Sheep by Judith Ross Enderle

This is a short book that is good for subtraction and reading of number words. It's a nice easy read for younger kids and a fast read aloud. Check out a video of it here. 

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

This one is a favorite of my fourth graders every year, and obviously others love it too, because it was turned into a film in 2012. The rhyming and repetition make it easy to follow along, and it always has them rolling on the floor laughing. This is also why it's great for younger kids, who will want to read it again and again. Here it is in play version. Check out the DVD trailer, too!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams

The possibilities for participation in this read aloud are endless. Kids love the repetition and acting out clomp, wiggle, shake, clap, and nod as well as running, jumping, hiding, peeking, and laughing! It's fun to point out the onomatopeia and collect the verbs. View a read aloud here.

How to Catch a Monster by Adam Wallace

We love this series! We own many books from it, catching monsters and leprechauns and tooth fairies. My son's interest wasn't kept the entire time and I think part of it was that he's still afraid of the idea of monsters. Associating ninjas with monsters wasn't really making sense to him, but he seems less scared of monsters now. Watch the read aloud here.

Night of the Pumpkinheads by Michael J. Rosen

At first glance, this book's pictures are pretty cool. If you have anything like The Great Jack-o'lantern Blaze near you, your kids will love this! And if not, it's a nice substitute. The tone can be a bit negative in terms of how the pumpkins talk (it included the dreaded "s" word, stupid) and spoiler alert - the kids aren't afraid of scary pumpkins. Still, the book has some redeeming qualities. It includes some figurative language including similes and has some science related vocabulary related to animals and vegetables. Children are introduced to foods they may not have ever had before, such as radishes, rutabagas, parsnips, and leeks. The message at the end is that kids are afraid of them, but I would have like to have seen the kids try to eat them!

Looking for other Halloween posts? Click here for printables, songs, and videos.