The month of October begins one of my favorite stretches of teaching in the school year. All the festivities that we associate with the upcoming holidays in the fall and winter enliven our classroom with lessons and activities that get me and the students fired up to learn. At the beginning of this month, I began reading spooky tales. One that is always wildly popular, hands-down, is the old favorite, Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark, a collection of traditional folklore and short stories retold by Alvin Schwartz. Whenever we visit the school library, my students race to be the first ones to check out this book--unless, of course, it has already been checked out by someone from another class. These are awesome stories--simple, riveting, dramatic, and perfect for transitions or short breaks between lessons. They are even better when one turns off the lights and reads them only by the glow of a flashlight! Another book in my storytelling toolbox for Halloween is Scared Witless, a collection of spooky stories by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss. This one has a more lighthearted, humorous feel than Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. To throw in a bit more fun with a different cultural experience, I also read a few short chapters from a French children's chapter book called Les Portes Tordues, or The Twisted Doors. It is a bilingual French/English book that actually is designed in a very clever way to teach French grammar and vocabulary within the narrative frame of a girl lost in a haunted house. I don't exactly read it to teach my students French, and unfortunately there is never enough time to read the entire book, but I read it as a brief opportunity for the children to hear another language (I do read both the French and English translations to help their comprehension). In some years when I taught classes with many second language learners, I also used it as an opportunity to teach those who are native English speakers to ask themselves, "What would it be like going to school in another country where I didn't know the language?" My new discovery this year was a book by the hilariously original and witty Dav Pilkey, who wrote The Hallo-wiener. It's about a dachshund named Oscar who is teased by the other dogs because of his short stature. On Halloween he takes more ridicule than ever in his hot-dog costume, but one brave act makes him a hero. It was a nice tie-in with our Treasures unit on "Community Heroes," and also allowed me to allude (perhaps all too briefly) to the fact that this month happens to be National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. So there you have it, my list of Halloween-related literature for the classroom. I certainly welcome any other book recommendations you may have.
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Every so often when I notice the children need to get the "wiggles" out, we take a brain break. Ideal for transitions in between lessons, getting in a bit of physical activity during the day, building community, and just plain mental refreshment, brain breaks are something the class looks forward to. My students will even ask on me on occasion, "Can we have a brain break?" Each week, I try to introduce a new brain break for the class to try. So far we have enjoyed "Hot and Cold," "Coseeki," and "Hi, My Name is Joe," a rhythmic chant with some hilarious movement. The version we use goes like this: Hi, my name is Joe. I've got a wife and three kids, I work in a button factory. One day, my boss came to me and said, "Joe, are you busy?" I said, "No." He said, "Turn the button with your right hand." The chant repeats from the beginning, and subsequently adds the left hand, then the right foot, left foot, elbows, and finally the head. It really gets the heart pumping! Here is another wonderful, funny version of "Hi, My Name is Joe": Room 17 is also benefitting from our new school-wide exercise program, "Fairburn in Motion." We do this for the first fifteen minutes of our instructional day. The program originated at a nearby school and has gotten national recognition. Here's a clip of one of our favorite exercise routines, "Peanut Butter Jelly Time," done by students at another school: |
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