MommaReads

I am going to take a break from Halloween books for today because I came across this really cool website that helps kids practice their spelling words. You (or they) type in their spelling list and then the website makes games for them to play on-line using their spelling words. It also makes worksheets that you can print out using the list you typed in. I thought it was pretty cool. It seems there are some options that you have to pay for, but I never ran into a spot where it asked me to pay for anything while I was playing around with it. I just thought this might be a fun and different way to practice spelling words at home or for teachers to practice with their students at school. Go to www.spellingcity.com to check it out.

If your kids like a mystery, then they will enjoy helping Albert and the gang solve riddles that lead them to the missing pumpkins.

Super duper cute book with advice on picking a name for your monster, how much to feed your monster, games to play with your monster and traveling with your monster just to name a few. This is an adorable book and the illustrations are a hoot, too.

Once a month, when the moon is full, a little boy takes over his dad’s barber shop and trims up the locks of monsters, vampires, Medusa, mummies, Frankenstein’s bride, zombies and even a skeleton. This is SUCH a cute book!

Littlebat and his mother live in the rafters of a library. He would also like to get a closer look at the pictures in the books that are being read to the children, but his mother has warned him that it is not safe for him to go to storytime. One day Littlebat leans a little too far out of his protective hiding place and falls right into storytime. You can imagine how well that went over! He does manage to fly back to safety and his mother tells him that there is one time of year that it might be safe for him to listen to storytime. He waits all through the spring and through the summer until fall arrives when he manages to make himself part of the decorations.

A very simple cumulative tale with vivid illustrations that takes the reader through Halloween night with a mouse, a jack-o-lantern, a bat, an owl, a dog, a cat and a child dressed up as a ghost.

Cinderhazel has the mean step-sisters and a godwitch. She also doesn’t have any way to get to the ball, but when her broom breaks, she gets there on a flying vacuum. There is also a prince-Prince Filthy Alarming. They end up living filthily ever after. This is a very cute story for all of those kids who are tired of the original version or are just looking for a cute and funny story.

A cute and simple story that could lead to lots of interaction, movement and downright silliness. Legs are for marching, feet are for stomping, eyes are for peeking…but all of the illustrations are Halloween-themed like a stomping Frankenstein, a marching pirate and a peeking mummy. Perfect for those kiddos who are just beginning to understand what Halloween is all about.

Mr. Tiffin’s class has three pumpkins-a small one, a medium one and a large one-and they are going to count how many seeds are in each pumpkin. First they get to makes estimates and then they get to count. There is a group counting by two’s, another group counting by five’s and another group counting by ten’s. As we were reading this book at our house we learned that the number of lines on a pumpkin can give you an indication as to how many seeds it has compared to another pumpkin…more lines=more seeds.

Herbert, the black cat, doesn’t have a home, so on cold days he likes to go to the nice warm library to read. One day he stumbles across a book called The Encyclopedia of Witches which tells him that witches wear striped stocking and pointed hats, they travel on brooms, they have cauldrons and they especially love black cats. Herbert goes on a quest to find a witch and stumbles across a few people who kind of match the description of a witch, but with no luck. After having so little luck and feeling very disappointed, he goes back to the library and finds a whole group of witch schoolgirls and their witch teacher.