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Friday, December 14, 2012

Kansas Reads to Preschoolers - 11/15/2012

Catching up and going backwards now I guess.....at least until I get caught up again :)

Each year, the State of Kansas has a week dedicated to reading to preschoolers.  A book is picked (by someone :), and libraries and different groups are encouraged to promote literacy using that book as a starting off point.  Last year's book was Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr.  We had fun with that one, even doing some great hands on activities that stayed up for a week or so. 

This year's book was Lola Loves Stories, by Anna McQuinn
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I went to our local Parents as Teachers playgroup on Wednesday morning of that week, and had a quick little story time/sharing of the book with those kids, and passed out flyers inviting them to our family story time each week.

Craft:
I purchased these simple little thin canvas bags from the dollar aisle in the craft section at Walmart, and had the kids decorate them. We used stick foam letters to put their names on their bags, but unfortunately they do not have PERMANENT adhesive on them, so I think the probably fell off everyone's bags! ugh!  Oh well...it was a good thought!

The State of Kansas library system had a good website set up with activities for folks to use with this theme.
Lola Loves Stories Activities

12/12/12 => 12/13/12

We have family story time on Thursday evenings, right?   So, when I was long-range planning the story time themes for story times, I noticed that the calendar was showing there was going to be a 12/12/12, and how cool that was.  However, little kids would really not understand that significance. Hmmmm...   Luckily, I have a wide variety of ages, and my older siblings DID get the significance.  What I did then was transfer that cool idea into a theme of "Numbers" for story time this week.

Books: 

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A favorite author of mine is Mo Willems.  I don't know if there is currently another author who is quite as funny.  If there is any drawback to Mo Willems' books, it would be that the humor may be too subtle for kids -- you will see the adults chuckle at some of these references.




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The kids like the frogs in this book, and it turned out to be a great book on predicting what will happen next. It is also a good book to talk about how frogs start out as tadpoles.

Song/Fingerplay:

 One two buckle my shoe
Three, four, knock at the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight
Nine, ten, a big fat hen


 Craft:

Sometimes it is really hard to have a craft that all ages can do or want to do...I have kids from age 2 up to 8 years.  Tonight I had cut extra large numbers out of cardstock, using my Cricut machine and the Mickey Font cartridge.  They were large enough that I had the kids mount them on their choice of 12x12 cardstock to make them more sturdy.  I then had a variety of little craft items, and different adhesive choices.  The kids were to pick the number of their age (i.e., the 8 year olds picked an 8, the 3 year olds picked a 3, etc.), glue it to cardstock, then glue that number of items to their paper. For example, a 3 year old would glue 3 pom poms, 3 cotton balls, 3 feathers, etc., the 5 year old would glue 5 of each item, etc.  

Examples of items I had available:
cotton balls
pom poms
sequins
felt cut outs
feathers
popsicle sticks
googly eyes
etc.
       

Other possible books:
The Three Bears, by Galdone
One Monkey Too Many, by Keller
One of Each, by Hoberman
Counting Kisses, by Katz
Richard Scarry's Counting Book, by Scarry
One Too Many, by Marino
One Odd Day, by Fisher
Olivia Counts (board book), by Falconer
10, 9, 8, by Bang
10 Rubber Ducks, by Carle
      

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Jammy Jamboree

This was perhaps one of my most favorite story times I've done for a long time.  The kids were really pretty upbeat and excited about this very simple concept...we wore our pajamas to story time.  We brought our blankets and stuffed animals, read some stories, did a craft and had a "bedtime"snack.  When I asked the kids if they enjoyed it, they all said yes with smiles on their faces. 

The books we read were:

Russell the Sheep, by Rob Scotton
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Goodnight, Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
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How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, by Jane Yolen

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Song/Fingerplay:

Five Little Monkeys
♫ Five little monkeys [Hold up five fingers.]
jumping on the bed. [Jump up and down.]
One fell off [Hold up one finger and then roll your hand down towards the floor.]
and bumped his head. [Tap your head with your fist.]
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, [Put your pinky to your mouth and thumb to your ear like a telephone.]
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" [Put one hand on your hip and wag your index finger.]

Four little monkeys [Hold up four fingers.]
jumping on the bed.
One fell off
and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Three little monkeys [Hold up three fingers.]
jumping on the bed.
One fell off
and bumped her head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Two little monkeys [Hold up two fingers.]
jumping on the bed.
One fell off
and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

One little monkey [Hold up one finger.]
jumping on the bed.
She fell off
and bumped her head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" ♫

Craft:

I cut out different sizes of star shapes, and a moon for each child out of yellow cardstock, and gave each child a half sheet of black construction paper to represent the night sky. The children glued the stars and one moon on the paper. They then painted the shapes with liquid glue, and sprinkled different glitter on them to make them sparkle.

"Bedtime" Snack:
Animal crackers or cookies with juice.  If we would have had more time, I would have had the kids string fruit loop cereal necklaces for a ready "breakfast."

Other possible book ideas:
Bedtime!, by Anderson
What Are You Doing in my Bed?, by Bedford
Are You Awake?, by Blackall
No Sleep for Sheep!, by Beaumont
Bubba & Beau Go Night-Night, by Appelt
No Ghost Under My Bed, by Genechten
A Bedtime for Bear, by Becker
Llama, Llama Red Pajama, by Dowdney