From: Pspmk at aol.com <Pspmk>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:24:24 EDT

Beth,
  I am glad you mentioned The Ghost of Nicholas Greebe. It does afford a
"goofy" scary read for a younger crowd.
  I love using this title with third grade students as an example of powerful word choice in writing. Before the students come into the LMC, I cover a large bulletin board with black art paper and quick-sketch a spooky night scene on the paper with white chalk (bare tree, owl, house on hill, moon, rickety fence, etc.) I also lower half the lights. Children sit on the floor in front of the board and as we read the story, they are listening for words and phrases the author uses to draw the reader into the scary story. The words identified by the students are written onto the "spooky scene." After we have read the story, the teacher can take the spooky scene w/words back to the classroom, pin it on the wall and talk about effective word choice in Writers Workshop.
  Susan Plewa Library Media Specialist Riley Elementary School Milwaukee, WI
Received on Fri 21 Oct 2005 09:24:24 AM CDT