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Teaching Ideas with Mentor Text (I’m Not Afraid of This Haunted House)

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So far, I have shared ideas for teaching ideas with Rocket Writes a Story and Enemy Pie. This post will focus on ideas using the book I’m Not Afraid of This Haunted House by Laurie Friedman. I picked up this book at Barnes and Noble and thought it looked cute. Little did I know, this book would be a classroom favorite and a great way to teach writing.

Simon Lester Henry Strauss is a young boy that is not afraid of a haunted house. Around each corner, Henry sees ghosts, witches, vampires, ghouls, and many other scary creatures. The author uses her ideas and rhymes to keep children engaged. With each scary creature that shows up in this book, we can ask our students, “What could you find in a haunted house?”

And this is where our next lesson on Ideas comes in. Students will use their ideas to think of creatures they might find in a haunted house.  Click on any of the worksheets to download for free.

Give students the worksheet. Let them draw pictures and/or words to tell what they could see in a haunted house. Remind students to use their ideas, which can come from books or movies they have seen.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4dkVYoybDGRNV9Cd3JHV2puMzg/view?usp=sharing

It doesn’t end there! You can also have your kiddos write their own haunted house stories.

Have students use the web to help plan their stories. Use the pictures to decide which three things they will find in a haunted house.  Cut out them out and glue in the web.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4dkVYoybDGRNV9Cd3JHV2puMzg/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4dkVYoybDGRNV9Cd3JHV2puMzg/view?usp=sharing

To write a story, use the topic sentence provided– Last night I visited a haunted house. Next use the pictures to help create a story. For example, First I saw a black bat flying in the air. Next I heard a witch laughing while she made a potion. Finally I saw a white ghost coming toward me! I ran out of the haunted house as fast as I could. 

 
Now I don’t use this activity during Halloween, which would probably be more appropriate, but that’s OK. This lesson is a great way to use what the students have learned from the first two lessons to use ideas in writing.

Don’t forget to check out my other posts to download the free traits of writing posters.
Teaching Ideas with Mentor Text (Rocket Writes a Story)
Teaching Ideas with Mentor Text (Enemy Pie)

Thanks for stopping by! Coming up, the next trait, Organization!

Stacy

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One Comment

  • Oooooo …. I have never heard of this book! I will be checking it out on amazon! Thanks girl!

    Reply

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Hello!

I’m Stacy.
Welcome to Literacy, Please, a website dedicated to all things literacy. If you need engaging, hands-on, research-based literacy activities, you’ve come to the right place. From phonics to fluency and language to writing. You’ll find what you need here and so much more. I’m so happy you stopped by!

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