Using Fall Mixed Up for Vocabulary and Rhyming

Happy fall, y'all! It's time to share some of our favorite books and resources with you, and you're in for a treat with one of my favorites, Fall Mixed Up. I'm teaming up with other bloggers to for this fun hop and hope you'll enjoy all we're sharing. 

'Tis the season for all things autumn-related my friends!  Pour yourself a cup of apple cider, slice yourself a piece of pumpkin pie, or treat yourself to some homemade soup as you make your way through our fabulous blog hop full of freebies!  I hope that our collection of literacy lessons based on favorite mentor texts will be a big hit in your classroom! 

Fall Mixed Up, written by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Chad Cameron, is a book I discovered last year, and just shared with my class this week!   Nothing is more fun than this story that features familiar seasonal sights, sounds, and sensations that have been turned upside down and all around!

Imagine a scarecrow standing guard in a field full of candy corn-on-the cob and a baseball player catching a football with a mitt! Squirrels migrating with helium balloons tied to their backs and geese hibernating inside of hollow logs are both sights that will make your student squeal gleefully with delight!

My second graders have such fun finding all of the "wrong" things cleverly depicted on every page, and laugh heartily at the fun "mash-up" of each month's name!  Septober, Octember, Nocember, and Devember have a very difficult time keeping their usual holidays and happenings straight as well! Monarch butterflies emerging out of milkweed pods and a Thanksgiving table loaded down with all sorts of Halloween candy are just a few of the wacky and whimsical illustrations your students will enjoy looking at again and again!

After I read this story aloud to my students, we strengthen our vocabulary skills by re-visiting  the text and creating word study anchor charts together.  First we pull out all of the synonyms and antonyms, and then we list all of the rhyming word pairs we can find. After that, we go back through the story and have fun correcting all of the mixed-up sentences.  Caramel pumpkins get replaced with caramel apples, leaves get raked into piles instead of sticks, and geese hibernate instead of migrate! I've created this set of printables based on the above activities, and hope that your students will enjoy them!  Click {HERE} to download!

Barn Dance by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault is another great mentor text to help reinforce rhyme and seasonal vocabulary, and features a scarecrow that plays the fiddle for a barnyard of square-dancing animals!  Be sure to check out this companion resource for it {HERE}.

Thanks for visiting today, and be sure to come back soon!  I'd love for you to follow me on social media using the icons at the top of this page! You might also like this collection of other fall-themed lesson ideas and activities!

Follow Jennifer Boney-Reynolds's board Fall Themed Resources on Pinterest.

Be sure to head over to  Reading Royalty next to find Michaela's sequencing activity that compliments The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything!

See our complete line-up of mentor texts that are

 perfect for the primary grades

below!

 

Primary (Kindergarten - 2nd Grade) Blog Hop

 

As always, thank you for sharing my story!  Continue to hold a song in your heart, dream a little dream, and teach your children well!  Know that I wish you an awesome autumn!

Peace out,