Halloween is fast approaching, and our students are excited for the costumes and candy! There are many ways we can integrate this holiday into our classrooms in an academic and fun environment. Here are a few ideas for you:
Read Alouds:
There are great high quality children's literature books that are perfect for shared reading with students. They have predictable text and a fun story line. For shared reading, the teacher can write out the predictable text onto chart and poster paper. When those parts of the text arise in the book, the students can read along with the teacher. For more information on shared reading, click here.
Two of my favorite books for shared reading are:
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid fo Anything by Linda Williams and Megan Lloyd
Shake Dem Halloween Bones by W. Nikola-Lisa
Science:
Pumpkins provide a variety of ways to explore plants. You can explore the stages of growth of a pumpkin (which follows the plant cycle) by reading Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson.
For other great pumpkin life cycle lessons, click here.
You can also measure the circumference of a pumpkin. Cut different lengths of yarn. Have some be "too short", have some be "too long" and a few be "just right." Have students predict which yarn will be "just right" and then have them measure the pumpkin.
Pulling out the pumpkin seeds provides for endless messy fun for students. Have students predict how many pumpkin seeds are in the pumpkin. Then cut open the pumpkin and give groups of students a bunch of pulp to pull out the seeds. Have them group the seeds by 10's to show how counting by 10's can be faster when counting large amounts.
There are plenty of other websites with great ideas and activities that integrate the holiday with academics. Check out Kinderkorner, Webtech, and Webquest.
No comments:
Post a Comment