Some of the building blocks for language and literacy are repetition and sequencing. Add a little bit of spookiness and some fun and you have the perfect Halloween book! Yes – let’s make learning fun!
If I can, I will try to bring more dimensions to a book that I am reading. Sound, touch, smell, an overhead projector playing something in the background, and of course – costumes are always popular with the children.
For this story, I brought my portable speaker with me and played the sound of wind when the little old lady is walking through the forest. If I were in the library I might find a windy forest scene to play (I usually find scenes on YouTube – look for screensavers) with my projector and project it on a wall.
In my basket I had some herbs (spices, nuts and seeds) for the children to smell. (Which is what she is going out to gather on the windy day).
If you want to see a silly video of me going into a classroom on a “windy day” you can find it on my instagram @storieswithmisslibrary
After we read the book, we usually have fun playing and reenacting the story with these parts:
I got the cutouts from here:
https://toddlerapproved.com/2011/10/book-of-week-little-old-lady-who-wasnt.html
To find more ideas and activities for this book go here: