Tales From the clothesline. Scarecrows and winter clothes.

November is the season of harvest and for some reason inspires scarecrows. The following are 2 scarecrow projects and related stories. Enjoy!






This scarecrow body starts with a double U shape. I precut these and made them by folding a standard piece of construction paper in 4 and creating the shape. When unfolded the full body appears.

Then I like to use raffia, paper and paper scraps to make the patches and hay stuffing. Then add a math element by having students cut circles and triangles for the head and hat.

This scarecrow is all about shapes. A rectangular piece of paper is it's body. Small paper plates make the circle shaped head. Triangles make the hat and rectangles make the arms and legs. Shapes can be precut while students need to decide how to arrange them to make a scarecrow.

Reads and Resources:

The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown, Illustrated by David Diaz

The Little Old Lady who was not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams, Illustrated by Megan Lloyd

The Hat by Jan Brett (These two are not specifically about scarecrows but are seasonal. I love how Jan Brett uses the side panels of her illustrations to show what other characters in the story are doing.)

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Tabak

Going Batty!

This is a fun and easy way to make bats! This activity falls under science, parts of a mammals body. (Did you know that bats are the only mammals that fly?) And of course direction following.
You will need: cardboard tubes, black paint, paint brushes, black or brown tissue paper cut into rectangles, white crayons.
First paint the tubes black. When the paint is dry, cut triangle shaped slits in both sides of the tube.Slide the tissue paper into the slits. Add ears, eyes, faces and claws with a white crayon. Wiggle eyes are a fun option.

Bat Books

Bats by Lily Wood (non-fiction informational text)

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon (fiction)

There was and Old Lady who Swallowed a Bat! By Lucille Colandro, Illustrated by Jared Lee (Rhyming silly story)

Monsterously good reads

The Monster at the end of this Book. Written by Jon Stone, Illustrated by Mike Smollin, Published by Golden Books Publishing Company.
Students laugh out loud as Grover tries to prevent them from reading the book and coming to the end. He is very afraid of monsters you know. No Such Thing By Jackie French Keller, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin Published by Scholastic Inc. This is a side by side telling of a boy who is convinced that a monster is under his bed and a monster who is convinced there is a boy on top of his bed. Both the boy's mother and the monster's mother are frustrated as they insist, There is No Such Thing!

The Night the Scary Beasties Popped Out of My Head By Daniel and David Kamish. This is written and illustrated by a man (David) and his 5 year old son (Daniel). The pictures are fantastic and the story offers a creative way to deal with nightmare beasties.

Go Away,Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberly. Ed Emberly creates a big green monster element by element using see through paper cut outs. Then he makes the monster disappear. This is a great book for students to retell independently.

I also created a big green monster puppet to use as a story prop for this book. I used the fun foam sheets but felt would work just as well, and an odd mitten. I cut all the "monster facial features" out of foam and added Velcro so that they can be attached and taken off during the story.

This will be a great addition to literacy time!

Monster Art

This is a fun and easy project for anytime of year but works nicely into Halloween. I like to think of this as multimedia art sculpture with an element of following directions. Plan 2 sessions for this project.

What you need: cardboard (toilet paper) tubes. I pre glued 2 together. wiggle eyes (optional), construction paper, glue, scissors and tempra paint.



Each child receives a set of cardboard tubes. The child then paints the tubes with his/her choice of paint.

The 2nd day the child adds, eyes, facial features, hair and limbs if desired.


There is no set outcome of how the monster should look so children can feel successful regardless of scissor and glue skill levels and it provides low stress practice using these tools.

Halloween Math

I learned the following two games at a work shop from other kindergarten teachers and I've used them every year since. They are a nice structured way to celebrate, that includes learning and also lets the kids have some candy without going overboard.

This game is called Bag of Bones and requires a small supply of the different skeletal shapes. I found the bones candy in the Oriental Trading catalogue 2008 Halloween #20566D1, item #NY-25/4641 Bones Candy
Oriental Trading's phone # is 800-228-2269
So, you make a graph by drawing or tracing the shapes several times. Be sure to leave a space for students to write the number of bones they find. The students receive a bag of bones and graph the different types of bones on the correct line. Then the student writes the number in the space provided.
If buying candy is not an option, I've also made several copies the the different skeletal shapes on different colored construction paper, cut them out and made a "bag of paper bones" for students to sort, graph and count.

I also really like this game, ghost count. To prepare, you need white beans, several small containers and the ghost count sheet. Mark the white beans with 2 permanent marker dots. These are the ghosts. Put 10 ghosts in a film canister or other small container. The students shake the container and pour the contents out. Then the student counts the number of ghosts with eyes facing up. They note this by coloring a ghost next to the correct number. The game can be played until all ghosts are colored or it becomes time to stop. I save the ghosts containers to use year after year, but I have to check them because the "ghosts" can disappear.

To save paper I copy both the bag of bones and ghost count back to back because I know we will play both games.

Pumpkin Poems

I really enjoy teaching adjective to my students with this poem. The first words signified by the pumpkins are "This little pumpkin is..." If I were to do it again I would write these words inside the pocket chart pumpkins but I went and laminated them so now they are what they are. I also discovered that using realia really help my ELL students with their vocabulary and mental process. It is so much easier to match a picture with a word than to try and translate words from one language to another. I brought in real pumpkins that had the attributes described in the poem. This pumpkin could be small and round, sit on the ground or be short and fat.This little pumpkin wore a silly hat.This little pumpkin had a grin so keen.

This little pumpkin said Happy Halloween!

Fall Poetry

I use lots of poems with my students and I love teaching with thematic units. Here are 2 of my favorite fall poems combined into an art project.

Gray Squirrel (Author unknown)

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel swish your bushy tail.

Gray squirrel, gray Squirrel swish your busy tail.

Wrinkle up your little nose,

Hold a nut between your toes,

gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Swish your bushy tail

Mr. Oak Tree (author unknown)

Mr. Oak Tree, Mr. Oak Tree,

Leaves float down,

to the ground.

Acorns dropping,

squirrels a-scampering,

all around, all around.

I find that adding actions helps students remember the words to the songs. They also really help ELL students comprehend and remember new vocabulary.

To make the squirrels, I pre-made gray construction paper cylinders and made tracers for the head and paws. The children traced and cut the head and paws and then had to create their own tail by drawing it and cutting it out. Then they glued the entire squirrel together.

I wrote the oak tree poem inside and tree trunk and branches shape. The students added oak leaves and acorns and then added the squirrels.

A note about unknown authors. I always try to give credit where credit is due but sometimes poems are copied and passed around, written out and expanded and the original source is lost. If you wrote any of the poems that I am using. I would like to give you credit so please let me know.