October... What are your kids reading this month???

Reposting!  It is October!  I love October... It is usually the perfect month! Not too cold yet in the Burgh and it is just usually pretty with the mums (my favorite flower) and the orange pumpkins against the blue sky. The cool air rocks... still haven't put on my winter shoes yet or a coat. Hoping I can wear my sandals till November.

I am officially ready for fall. I put out the Halloween/Fall decorations. My kids are at that perfect age, they go crazy over the decorations. I can hardly wait to decorate for Christmas. I love how excited they get over the littlest things. Example being, my daughter saw a pumpkin plaque hanging from our garage light and you would have thought she saw cows flying or something. It is just too cute to see how happy a little decorations can make kids. Do your kiddos get so excited about Halloween too?

One thing I do for the major holidays is collect books that suit the theme of the season. I taught for many years and owning Teaching Heart awards me with many free books from authors, so I have a great collection of books for Halloween/Fall, Thanksgiving, Winter/Christmas, Valentines day, and St. Patrick's Day. Many of the books my son has heard year after year for the seven years of his little life. One thing I do to make the book special is I pack the books up by theme with my holiday decorations. So when the books come out the kids are thrilled to see them. You would think I laid 100 new toys in front of them. They go through each book on their own and get so excited about seeing them. I keep them separate from the other Halloween books and ask they they too make sure they put the book back in the Halloween bucket.

I highly recommend that every mom and dad (teachers too - but I know most do) pack up their books into seasons and only share those special seasonal books during the holiday season. My husband the other day did not realize I had been doing this for years and said to me a few weeks ago, I can't find the Polar Express book on the book shelf... Duh, it only comes out on the holidays honey! He looked at me and said, "That is sad, it is such a good book." My thought, it wouldn't be nearly as special if we read it all year long. We don't watch Christmas shows until a month before Christmas and that is why they are so special. Same goes with books. Maybe you already pack your seasonal books up and only share them during their designated season... But, if you don't, you should try it and watch how excited your kids get over books!

If you need ideas of great Halloween/Fall books, please click here. The link takes you to my page on Teaching Heart that is filled with the BEST books for the season. It also has a few ideas to match some of those books. Enjoy & happy reading!