When I was teaching 3rd grade, one of my favorite parts of the day was read aloud time and I know it was a favorite time for my students as well, I always did it for 20 minutes right after lunch. The students would gather on the carpet by my rocking chair. I usually read a chapter or two from a chapter book I was reading but occasionally we'd read picture books as well between chapter books. This has carried over into motherhood. One of the favorite parts of my day is reading to my little girls and they love it too! Lily would let me read books to her all day if my voice would last that long.
Here are some suggestions of some of my favorite Halloween books. I do not own all these books! We get some from the library or just go to the Halloween section of the store at Walmart or Target and read the books they have there :).
I'll start with younger kids and work my way up to what I would read to my 3rd graders:
Some books specific to Fall for little kids are I Love Fall by /Alison Inches, We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger, Peppa's Windy Fall Day, Fall by Roger Pridy, Leaf Man by Lois Elhert, Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka.
5 Little Pumpkins is another fun read. This books is great because its from a song so you can sing it while you read it but you don't have to. My piano students play this song so I know the tune well haha. I like how it teaches ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th) and counting. If you click on the Pete the Cat one there is a video with it on Amazon with the music and the words.We like Pete the Cat Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean since the cat looks like our kitty and just this normal Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino.
Some other good counting Halloween books are One, Two. . . Boo!, Ten Timid Ghosts, 10 Trick-or-Treaters, Seven Orange Pumpkins, Too Many Monsters!
Some other books you can sing to that are great are this Halloween version of Wheels on the Bus called The Spooky Wheels on the Bus and then my little girl loves this Fall one called There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves that goes to the tune of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and also the Halloween one of There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat. She has these for every holiday and some other themes too. They are pretty cute.
Some ABC Halloween Books to read to your littles are Halloween ABC, A,B,C's Halloween, Halloween Alphabet ZYX, H Is For Haunted House.
Some other fun picture books to read to your preschool and up aged kids are: Happy Halloween, Little Critter and Trick-or-Treat Little Critter by Mercer Mayer, Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin-Picking Plan and Splat the Cat What Was That? by Rob Scotton, Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing, Spookie Pookie by Sandra Boynton, The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan Berenstain.
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My little girl loves Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Clifford, and Micky Mouse Clubhouse so its fun to read books with her favorite characters in them:
Margie Palatini is one of my favorite picture book authors. She has 3 books about Gritch the Witch that are hilarious. Piggie Pie is the first one and then there is Broom Mates and Zoom Broom. None of them are about Halloween, but the main character is a witch so we'll count it :). I read these to my preschooler all the time but I also read them to my 3rd graders and they loved them and understood a lot of the references better.
For my 3rd Graders I would also read How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margarate Mcnamara and 2 x 2 = Boo! by Loreen Leedy to them during math.
And we would read these Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz I used to read as a kid. The scarecrow one still gives me nightmares! We would turn the light off and use flashlights. It was pretty spooky! I guess they have new updated covers and its cheaper!
My favorite chapter book to read at Halloween time to my students was called Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by Deborah and James Howe. We would be studying mysteries during Halloween time so it went along great with that and the book is hilarious.
I also loved reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. It was always fun to come dressed as the kind of witch he described during the chapter where the boys Grandma tells him what witches looked like. I would keep scratching my head as if wearing a wig, eat a blue sucker before hand so it looks like you have blue spit. Refuse to take off your shoes so they don't see that you have no toes, wear gloves, and keep wrinkling your nose and saying, "Does it smell like Dog's Droppings in here?". If you've read the book you'll get it ;)
They also loved the book called Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville. Its not really Halloween themed, but there are goblins in it :). It is hilarious too and has some spooky parts.
And of course my students and I always loved reading the first book in the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. BEST BOOKS EVER! I can't wait to read them with my girls! Its something I dream about :).
Now go to the library, the store, or just buy some of these books online and get reading with your kids! HAPPY READING!
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