Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Halloween Picture Book Linky Party

Next week is October and I can bust out the Halloween books! First Grade Found Me is having a Halloween Picture Book linky party. I have lots of Halloween books so I tried to narrow it down to my top five! I always start with the following 3 books. They are great introductions to pumpkin activities, talking about pumpkin pie, and carving a jack-o-lantern.
Big Pumpkin is another version of The Enormous Turnip. Lots of different Halloween characters all take their turn at trying to pull up the Big Pumpkin. Drat...hmmmphh..Love the repetition. It's  a great lesson on teamwork. It's also a great story to act out. And there's pumpkin pie. mmmm...
A cute story of a snitched pumpkin. An old man and an old woman go searching for their pumpkin. The old man wants pumpkin pie. mmmm.....
Now that we've read about pumpkins and pumpkin pie, it's time to read about the life cyle of a pumpkin. I love this book because it is so simple and has great pictures. After we read this story, we do a quick little science experiment.
Will our pumpkin sink or float when we drop it into a tub of water? The kids love this.
 Then we carve it open, stick our hands inside the pumpkin and say "ewwww!" Everybody gets some seeds to take home and save for spring planting.

 Then we paint some paper plates orange, sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin and we are now ready to retell to our parents.
I love Diane de Groat's holiday books. I have them all, featuring the character Gilbert. I used to love to read this before we had our Halloween parade. It would set the mood. But now no more parades. But I still like reading it. And the kids love shouting "trick or treat, smell my feet" !
This last book is great to read the day after Halloween. Who can't relate to eating candy until you're sick? A little lesson on sharing and self-control. (But all that candy is soooo tempting!)

What are your favorite Halloween picture books? Link up at First Grade Found Me and see what others are sharing.






11 comments:

  1. I love the seed to a jack-o-lantern craft! Awesome!

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  2. I love Big Pumpkin. I'm so happy I found your blog. I'm your newest follower.
    Lyn
    Mrs. Goff's Pre-K Tales

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  3. I love Big Pumpkin too! And Trick or Treat Smell My Feet. Thanks for the other suggestions too. Thanks for linking up to the party! I'm your newest follower.
    Chrissy
    First Grade Found Me

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  4. Love The Vanishing Pumpkin!!! So happy to have discovered your blog. I'm now a follower. :)

    -krissy
    Ms. Hutten’s Buttons

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  5. So excited to have found you! Saw your button on First Grade Found Me's post about your awesome meet up today! :) Welcome to first grade! I'm giving away some copies of my newest Writing Workshop unit for 1st & 2nd graders called: Starting Point - Personal Narrative. Come take a peek: Growing Firsties

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  6. It was so nice to meet you yesterday, Kathy. It's nice to put a face with the name. I look forward to keeping in touch.
    --Chrissy

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    1. I just realized I forgot to say that this is Chrissy fron first grade found me. I'm on my iPad and forgot that it wouldn't be automatic. Oops!

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    2. It was nice to meet you too, Chrissy. Yes, we will be keeping in touch, Firsties stick together, lol!

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  7. I love the retell pumpkin lifecycle with the paper plate...too cute. I know so sad I didn't make it this time. I had so much fun in April. Glad you guys had a blast! Thanks for sharing such great ideas!
    Vicky
    http://traditionslaughterandhappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2012/09/journal-rubrics-and-agiveaway.html

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  8. Great ideas here! Thanks for sharing.

    MrsMc from Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

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