A new "Creepy Carrots" resource to supplement my best seller + pick up freebies :)

Hi everyone

I was so thrilled about Felicity's feedback about my "Monster Chef" resource, that I made a new resource to support my best-selling "Creepy Carrots" resource for a not-so-scary Halloween.

You can read more about Creepy Carrots and pick up a freebie here.

You can read more about Monster Chef here and save a heap on my new bundle of two other not-so-scary Halloween titles (newly published) here.

My new resource includes QR codes for vocabulary extension and reading comprehension. It includes complex vocabulary from the text (which the students infer the meanings of and then check using the QR codes) and reading comprehension questions with QR code answers that support close reading of the text.  You can find out more about it here.

Thank you to all those readers who already have purchased my "Creepy Carrots" vocabulary extension resource.  

Please leave a message below if you purchased my original resource and are interested in receiving my QR code supplementary resource as a freebie (leave your email address)...please remember, I can check on TPT if you did actually purchase the original :)

Happy Halloween everyone :)

Halloween treat

A big shout out to Felicity who made my day today by sending me the most awesome email feedback about one of my new resources for Halloween based on Nick Bland's new picture book, Monster Chef.  You can read about the resource at my blog post here.

Felicity's feedback was so lovely.  She used the resource yesterday with her class and has written:

My kids LOVED reading Monster Chef and today we tried the comprehension cards with the QR codes. 

We used our tablets to scan the answers. 

They were totally engaged! Thankyou so much! 

She even included a photo :)  Thank you so much Felicity - you have made my day!

And, guess what I just found out? There is another picture book with a similar title, "Monster Chefs" also published in 2014...I can feel resource making coming on :)  

Click on the image below to find out more about this title and follow my blog (using the links on the right) for notification when the resource to accompany it is ready:

Have a terrific week everyone!

 

Looking for something fresh for Halloween? Two newly published picture books with freebie and resource links

Are you sick of the "We've read that before" line every year when there is a celebration?  

Two newly published picture books will help you to put a new spin on Halloween in the classroom this year - both published just recently in 2014.  One is "Monster Chef" by Nick Bland and the other is "Little Boo" by Stephen Wunderli.

They are both terrific for a not-so-scary Halloween theme, or for teachers who have students who do not celebrate Halloween, as they are along the same theme, but "Little Boo" especially is great for this as it is about a little pumpkin seed that is not scary, until he grows into a pumpkin and becomes a jack-o'-lantern.  The name Jack-o'-lantern comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack and Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, with the carving of pumpkins being a regular part of Halloween festivities.

Both of these newly published picture books are fabulous and very cute, with two different characters who are anxious because they are not scary.

I have blogged about Monster Chef before and you can read those blog posts here and here and pick up resource links along the way.

Little Boo is my latest find and I just love it. You could integrate it with a study of the life cycle of pumpkin in science.  What's exciting is that McMillan has provided a free downloadable activity kit for Little Boo that includes a maze and pumpkin carving templates.  Download that freebie here or view a walk-through of the book and review here.  Another review is available here.  This book is so cute! Depending on what you intend to do with it, it could be used in grades 2 to 5.

I have made resources to support both Monster Chef and Little Boo that you will find in my TPT store, but my exciting news is that although I had already discounted them for Halloween (and only made both of them in the past week, so they will be a fresh approach for you), I have discounted them even further as I have put the two together as a bundle, for serious savings :)  You can find out more here.

Bundled, the two resources consist of 57 pages!  All resources involve higher order thinking and are not "busy work" - however they are just print and go, and include graphic organisers/organizers, QR code comprehension questions, a rhyming word matching game, vocabulary work, connections and character traits. 

They also support my very favourite 4H reading strategy that I have blogged about before many times (please check the archives if you are interested in learning more about this).  The 4H reading strategy is an innovation on Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR) but so much easier for the kids to understand.  

Read more about what is in each of the individual resources (i.e. Monster Chef and Little Boo) via my TPT store here or here.

Another resource that has been hugely popular this year for a not-so-scary Halloween focus is "Creepy Carrots". You can read my blog post about that here (with a freebie) or read about my resource to support this picture book here.  

So, to avoid the "same old, same old" or "we've done this before" dread of every teacher, check out these new picture books and check out my blog posts about them (links above) where I share heaps of links to save you time in your Halloween preparation for school this year :)

Thanks for your support everyone!

Happy birthday to me and a gift for you :)

To celebrate my birthday today, I am sharing a new picture book with you and giving my followers a copy of my latest resource as a thank you for reading my blog.

I previously blogged about Scaredy Squirrel - you can read that blog post here.  Since then, I have been collecting other squirrel titles and one of my favourites is "Those Darn Squirrels!" by Adam Rubin.

We don't have squirrels in Australia, so I find them fascinating.  This title reminds me a lot of "Creepy Carrots."  You can read my blog post about that title (and pick up a freebie) here.

Those Darn Squirrels is hilarious and great for problem/solution.  You can view a YouTube reading of it here and the book trailer here.

There are some wonderful clips about squirrels on the Help Readers Love Reading blog here - I laughed out loud at the squirrels dancing to Michael Jackson :)  A squirrel flash mob! The squirrel obstacle course is pretty awesome and amazing too!  Impressive!

There's also an information fact sheet with the same title that could be used to pair the narrative with non-fiction. Aileen from  Mrs Miracle's Music Room has also paired the picture book with a song about squirrels.  

Apparently there are three titles in this series (how exciting).  I have only read this first one. Have you read the others?  You can read about the other titles here.  I made up a resource to go with the picture book (click on the preview below or here to find out more).

To celebrate my birthday today, I will send a free copy of this resource to those readers who follow my blog who leave a comment below with their email address.  My birthday was on 18 October, so this freebie offer is only for people who are followers of my blog and only over the next couple of days.

Please follow my blog (using the links in the right hand comment) to accept this giveaway.

Let me know in the comments if you do know the titles in this series and how you have used them :)  I would also like to know more about squirrels - are they considered pests?  Do you have squirrels where you live?  I would love it if you could let me know more about them...

Many thanks

Have a terrific week :)

"Monster Chef" by Nick Bland - terrific for a not-so-scary Halloween

I am so excited to share my new resource with you.  

Last week I blogged about Nick Bland's new picture book "Monster Chef".  You can read that blog post here and pick up a few freebies.  If you are looking for not-so-scary titles you can use around Halloween, you might also be interested in my blog post about "Creepy Carrots" (and another freebie).

I had so much fun putting this new resource together.  You can see a list of the contents beside the image below.





4H reading strategy bookmarks & posters

4H strategy question sort

Making connections

Character traits

Vocabulary work

Story Mountain

Procedural text (recipes)

Rhyming words match game

Compare/contrast venn diagram

QR codes – comprehension multiple choice questions

Here's a quick preview of the resource:

Click on the image above to find out more...

If you would like a copy of this resource, please leave a comment below with your email address and I will choose a couple of winners to receive it for free :)

Please follow my blog (using the links in the right hand comment) to accept this giveaway.

Have a terrific week!