HALLOWEEN PREPARATION... 

When reading other posts it becomes crystal clear that making a connection with your viewers is what it is all about.  I have read many wonderful blogs that do that so well and I  can quickly connect a special story or event to the author of that blog.  I decided to share our excitement over the upcoming yearly event HALLOWEEN and our preparation for it. 

One of my son's favourite time of year is Halloween.  Even though it is a celebration that has just recently become popular in Australia, many kids love to dress up and go around with his friends "Trick-or-Treating". Lately, my son, Adriano who is eleven also has been interested in reading "scary" stories. "Goosebumps" has become one of his favourite series to read and he is now onto his second book.

This year I decided to decorate my home in preparation for Halloween as well as invite some of Adriano's friends and their families over to celebrate Halloween. It was a perfect year to do it as the 31st of October, 2015 falls on a Saturday this year. Here are some photographs of my house decorated for Halloween.

A carved pumpkin ready to be lit up.

A greeting at the front door!

Kitchen area ready to spook all who visit!

More photographs to come.

Until next time.

SNOOPY/PEANUT COMICS

I'm so excited about the Peanut movie coming out!  You can see the preview of the movie

http://www.peanutsmovie.com

I have always loved the adorable Snoopy and Charlie Brown.  My love of comics has been recently enhanced when I started to set up my library for my new program for struggling readers called the H.E.A.R.T (Have Every Age Read Together) Reading program.  Comics have definitely become a great addition to this library.

In preparation for the Peanut movie I have made a free Snoopy Reading Record.
You can find this record on

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snoopy-Reading-Record-2142969

Also some colourful bookmarks that will certainly delight young and old.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Book-Marks-with-a-reading-quote-PeanutSnoopy-theme-2168136

Another product I have made with the Peanut/Snoopy theme is Editable Peanuts Comic Strips.  This product will definitely motivate some of my reluctant writers in your classroom.  Providing graphics organisers gives those students a great start to the writing activity/task.   There are many different templates available in this pack so it can be used with different age groups.  Some of the comic strips have the characters and I have also added some text that you find in the original Peanut series.  There are blank comic strips with accompanying characters to cut and paste on the sheets or students can draw the characters if they prefer.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comic-Strip-SnoopyPeanut-Templates-for-Writing-edible-2156015

Comic strips help to teach students to think visually.  They make reading and writing fun. With comics students can be creative and unique.  Visual representations provide many learners a way to understand and be able to express themselves openly.  Comics therefore provide an interesting and different stimulus for writing activities with many different age groups.  Comics can also be  used to demonstrate the use of speech marks.