Discuss cumulative poems. Read books which tell cumulative poems like "There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," "The Dress That I’ll Wear to the Party," "Jack and Jill’s Treehouse," "The House that Jack Built," and "The Apple Pie That Papa Baked." Explain to the children that all of the stories are cumulative poems. Then read "By the Light of the Halloween Moon" and ask kids to tell you what type of poem it is and why. Then work together to write a cumulative poem as a group. For example, you could write a story about child going trick-or-treating.
Write familiar and unfamiliar words found in "By the Light of the Halloween Moon" on a chalkboard or dry erase board. Simple words like toe, moon, cat, eyes and bat will most likely be familiar to the children. Ask them to tell you what they mean. Add unfamiliar words like gleaming, wisp, bungling, ghastly, ghoul, williwaw, sprite, grungy and hobgoblin. Use a dictionary to define the words and build the kids vocabulary. Give the kids black construction paper and chalk. Ask them to draw a picture of one of the new words they learned.
After reading the book, recruit the child's help in recreating the story while you record the show. Help children act the story out and learn the lines. Construct costumes to wear while pretending to be ghosts, witches, cats and other supernatural creatures. Make copies of the video to send home with all the children later in the year as a Christmas gift to their parents.
In "By the Light of the Halloween Moon," a young girl plays a violin while supernatural creatures dance. Make your own Halloween instruments out of toilet paper rolls, beads, empty cans and other household items. Divide the kids into two groups: musicians and dancers. While some of the kids play music, the other children should dance. Afterward, give the kids edible witch hats made by attaching chocolate kisses to chocolate cookies with icing and drawing a buckle on the hat with orange icing.