October
Main Themes:
Leaves
Halloween/Thanksgiving
Pumpkins
An author study of Marc Brown (Arthur)
Click here to read some October words.
Leaves
Here is a link to the KinderKorner section on leaves: Kinder Korner
It has some more great ideas and poems.
This next poem is one of those poems that classes like to read over and over again.
By this time, my students will be recognizing the colour words and it makes the poem
seem almost easy for them to read.
Falling Leaves
Little leaves fall gently down.
Red and yellow, orange and brown.
Whirling, whirling round and round.
Quietly without a sound.
Falling softly to the ground.
Down and down, down and down.
Halloween
This next poem has become a favourite with every class I have taught it too!
We have a set of actions that we use to go along with the poem.
The students love the ending when they get to sing:"Ooooooh Oooooh went the wind"
Here is the poem:
Five Little Pumpkins
Five littlle pumkins sitting on the gate
The first one said: "Oh my it's getting late!"
The second one said: "There are witches in the air."
The third one said: "But I don't care!"
The fourth one said: "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said: "I'm ready for some fun!"
Ooooooh Oooooh went the wind and out went the light.
And five little pumpkins all rolled out of sight.
I remember this next Halloween song from when I was younger.
It is also a perennial favourite!
Students always love the ending!
Here it is:
Skin and Bones
There was an old woman all skin and bones.
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
She lived down by the old graveyard
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
One night she thought she'd take a walk.
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
She walked down by the old graveyard.
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
She saw the bones a-laying around.
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
She went to the closet to get a broom.
Oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh
She opened the door and
BOO!
Arthur
Here is a link to Marc Brown's official website for Arthur:
There are a lot of ideas for parents, students and teachers here. It is worth a visit!
We also learned how to draw Arthur in our drawing books.
These instructions are on the Arthur website.
We found that it was easier than we thought it would be!
Pumpkins
Pumpkin Art
We took small lunch size paper bags and stuffed them with crumpled newspaper.
We then put an elastic band about two thirds of the way up the bag. This left a nice
sized stem on the top. We painted the bottoms orange and let them dry overnight.
The next day we painted the tops green and drew faces onto our jack'o'lanterns with
felt pens. They looked great. These pumpkins were put onto our outside bulletin board to
become part of our Halloween display. We also made Bats out of toilet paper rolls
for the display.
Jack 'O' Happy
This poem is from Victoria Smith at KinderKorner.
We have this poem in the pocket chart, on the chart stand and in our poetry duotangs.
This is Jack 'O' Happy.
This is Jack 'O' Sad.
Now you see him sleepy.
Now you see him mad.
This is Jack in pieces small.
But in a pie he's best of all!
