Build Background

• Ask students if they have ever dressed up in costumes. Have them describe their costumes and explain why they were dressed up.
• Have students brainstorm things they think of when they think of Halloween. Record their ideas in a word web.

Book Walk

Introduce the Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

• Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title. If students have read other Monsters books, ask them if they recognize the characters shown on the cover illustration. Have them share what they remember about the Monsters.
• Ask students to predict what costumes the Monsters might wear if they go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Record their ideas in a list on chart paper. Explain that making predictions about what they are going to read helps them become more active readers and helps them understand and enjoy the book more.
• Show students the title page and ask them what they see in the picture.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Go through each page of the book with the students up to page 10, talking about the illustrations and using the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. Model how to confirm their predictions as they preview the illustrations in the book.
• Think aloud: I see on page 4 that Jupe wants to be a pirate. That is one of the things we listed on our prediction chart. I’ll put a check mark next to the word pirate on our list to show that our prediction is confirmed by the pictures. As I read, I keep making predictions about the story, and then I decide whether my predictions are correct or not. Sometimes I need to make new predictions as I get more information. This makes me an active reader.
• Preview the next pages, and have students confirm any predictions listed on the chart.
• Reinforce new vocabulary by incorporating it into the discussion of the pictures. On page 5 you might ask, What does Uzzle need to be a clown? His wig is like a rainbow, isn’t it?
• Stop previewing the book at page 10. Have students predict what costume the Monsters will make for Bonk. Write their predictions on the chart.
• Model for students the strategies they can use to work out words they don’t know. Have students find the word clown on page 5. Ask students how they could read this word if they didn’t know it. Suggest they might look at how it starts, reading the /c/ /l/ blend. They might recognize the sound of the letters ow. Read the sentence to them and ask them if the word clown makes sense in the sentence.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out what costume Bonk will wear for trick-or-treating.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Give students their books and have them put a sticky note on page 6. Direct them to read to the end of this page. Tell students to reread the pages if they finish before everyone else.
• When they have finished, ask students whether their predictions are correct. Have them revise any predictions based on new information.
• Model revising predictions. For example: We checked our predictions by looking at the pictures, and now we can be sure they are right because we have read the text. We didn’t predict that one costume might be a cowboy, did we? (Your responses will vary depending on what predictions the students suggested for the list.)
• Have students read the remainder of the story.

     Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues.
• Ask students whether their prediction about Bonk’s costume was correct. Reinforce how making predictions helped them be active readers.

Comprehension: Sequence story events

• Introduce and model: Tell students that all stories have a series of events that happen to the characters, and that this is called the plot of the story. Explain that the order of the events is usually important. Use a familiar story to demonstrate why the order is important: In the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, would it make sense if Jack climbed the beanstalk before he planted the beans? Would it make sense if he planted the beans before he went to town with the cow?
• Check for understanding: Have students explain why the story of Jack and the Beanstalk would not make sense if Jack climbed the beanstalk before the beans were planted, or if he planted the beans before he went to town with the cow.
• Discussion: Ask students what happened from the beginning of Monster Halloween up to page 7. Discuss why these events needed to happen first (all the other costumes must be used up before Bonk needs a costume). Have students talk about how the Monsters solved the problem of Bonk’s costume. Ask why the story needs to have the Monsters trying to make a mummy costume and a ghost before they get the orange paper to make a pumpkin. (If the mummy costume worked, for example, they wouldn’t need to try another costume idea.)
• Independent practice: Give students the Sequence worksheet and have them draw pictures or write the evens of the book in the order they happened. They can revisit the book to help them remember the order. When students have finished, have them orally retell the story to a partner, using their worksheet as a guide.
• Extend the discussion:

     Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture showing a costume they want to wear for Halloween. Have students share their pictures with the group. Students can use this drawing as a stimulus for the writing activity that follows.

Phonemic Awareness: Orally segment and blend phonemes

• Say the word wig and have students repeat the word. Then segment the word into its phonemes: /w/ /i/ /g/. Have students repeat the phonemes and then blend them together to say the word wig.
• Give students the following words. Have students segment them into their phonemes, and then blend the phonemes together: nose, boots, sheet, fall, horn, clown.

Phonics: Variant vowel oo

• Write the words looks and boots on the board. Have students find the words on pages 3 and 6. Ask volunteers to read the sentences in which the words are found.
• Ask students what vowel sound they hear in each word. Explain that the oo in the middle of the words can stand for different sounds. When they are reading words with oo, they should use context clues to help them decide if the sound they read in the word makes sense.
• Write the word hook on the board and have students find and read the sentence in which it is found on page 4. Ask them whether hook has the same vowel sound as looks or boots.
• Have students complete the Variant Vowel worksheet.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Describing words

• Have students turn to page 5 and reread the page to find out what kind of wig Bonk finds. When students have identified the word rainbow, explain that this is a describing word. Have them read the next sentence to find out what kind of nose Bonk finds (red).
• Explain that these words are describing words, and that good writers use them to help readers visualize or imagine what’s happening in the story. The describing words provide details about the story.
• Have students practice using describing words on the Describing Words worksheet.

Vocabulary: Inflectional ending -s

• Write the words look and looks next to each other on the board, and ask students to tell you what is different about the words.
• Explain that we often add -s to action words depending on who is performing the action. Have students use each of the words in oral sentences.
• Have students find other action words with the inflectional ending -s in the book: finds, says, wants, needs, bumps.
• Give students the Inflectional Ending worksheet and have them practice using words with the inflectional ending.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading in the book.

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing

• Work with students to write some sentences that describe one of the costumes in the book. Have them refer to the pictures and the text, and encourage them to add other describing words not in the text.
• Then ask students to write sentences that describe the picture of their Halloween costume that they drew in the back of the book. Have them use the group description as a model for their writing.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• sequence story events in logical order and understand the importance of sequence in a story.
• orally segment and blend individual phonemes in words.
• recognize that the letters oo can stand for more than one sound.
• identify describing words and understand their purpose.
• identify words with inflectional ending -s and write words by adding -s.