W & X

BOOKS:
What Will the Weather Be? by Paul Rogers (W book)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, by Bill Martin Jr. (Walrus)
The crocodile who didn't like water, by Merino, Gemma

The Tale of the Whale, by Swann, Karen

Little White Rabbit, by Henkes, Kevin

Black Cat, White cat, by Borando, Silvia

Not quite black and white, by Ying, Jonathan

Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, by Litwin, Eric

Whaley Whale, by Raschka, Chris (Easy Reader)

The Boy and the Whale, by Gerstein, Mordicai

All from a Walnut, by Paquette, Ammi-Joan

Fancy Nancy and the wedding of the century, by O'Connor, Jane

Wish: I Love and Wish for You, by Dodd, Emma (BB)

Fish had a Wish, by Garland, Michael

I Wish I Had..., by Zoboli, Giovanna

Inch & Roly Make a Wish, by Wiley, Melissa (Easy Reader)

I Wish that I had Duck Feet, by LeSieg, Theo

Cat Wishes, by Brill, Calista

Grimelda the Very Messy Witch, by Murray, Diana

There's a Witch in Your book, by Fletcher, Tom

How to Catch a Witch, by Walstead, Alice

Mr. Pusskins and Little Whiskers: another love story, by Lloyd, Sam

Woodpecker wants a waffle, by Breen, Steve

Wolf won't bite!, by Gravett, Emily

Wolf in the Snow, by Cordell, Matthew

The Wolf who cried boy, by Hartman, Bob

When a wolf is hungry, by Naumann-Villemin, Christin

I am the wolf...and here I come!, by Guettier, Benedict (BB)

Walrus in the bathtub, by Underwood, Deborah

Where's Walrus? , by Savage, Stephen

How to say Hello to a worm: a first guide to outside, by Percival, Ken

What About Worms?, by Willems, Mo (Easy Reader)

W WORDS:

window

watermelon

water

white

whale

walnut

wet

whistle

wedding

wish

witch

wheat

whisker

writer

waffle

winter

windmill

wolf

wizard

walrus

wagon

women

worm

winner

wallet

wood

wharf

whimsical

widget

woodchuck

Finding an "X" book is a little more complicated.  I couldn't find anything necessarily related to a xylophone, but went more with music and bands, etc.
Olivia Forms a Band, by Ian Falconer

X WORDS:

xylophone

x-ray

x-ray fish

ACTIVITY:
Today I gave each of the kids one of our musical instruments to play and form our 'band'.  We sang a couple of songs of the kids' choice and used our instruments while we sang.

https://preschoolmom.com/preschool-crafts/alphabet-crafts/

U & V

U: umpire, umbrella, unicorn

V: van, valentine, vacuum

BOOKS:
Peter Spier's Rain
10 Valentine Friends, a holiday counting book, by Janet Shulman

UPDATED 2024:

U Words:

uncle

unicorn

unicycle

uniform

underwear

umbrella

universe

ukulele

usher

unlock

us

uphill

umpire
underline
unhappy

upset
ugly

united

uplift

ultimate

upbeat

understand

user-friendly

useful

utensil

BOOKS: 
The Ugly Duckling, by Alperin, Mara

Lily the Unicorn, by Clayton, Dallas

There's a Unicorn in your book, by  Fletcher, Tom

One Big Pair of Underwear, by Gehl, Laura

Underwear!, by Harney, Jenn

Something's Wrong, by John, Jory

Those Are Not My Underpants by Martin, Melissa

Animals in Underwear, by Parr, Todd (BB)

Attack of the Underwear Dragon, by Rothman, Scott

The Underpants!, by Sauer, Tammy

Unicorn thinks he's pretty great, by Shea, Bob

Polar Bear's Underwear, by Tupera, Tupera

Kevin the Unicorn: It's not all rainbows, by Von Innerebn, Jessika

How to Catch a Unicorn, by Wallace, Adam

Ugly Pie, by Wheeler, Lisa

A Unicorn named Sparkle, by Young, Amy

V Words:

vase

vegetable

van

volcano

violet

velvet

veterinarian/vet

vulture

vanilla

violin

vacuum

vote

visit(or)

vowels

vacation

vein

Valentine

video

village

virus

valley

valuable

vine

vanish

BOOKS:

Eating the alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z

Ask a Veterinarian: Meow, woof or moo -- there's a doctor for you by Pajaro, Rosie (BB)

If I had Your Vote, by Cat in the Hat (E)

A Vote for Susanna: The first woman mayor, by Greenwald, Karen

When Lola Visits, by Sterling, Michelle

https://preschoolmom.com/preschool-crafts/alphabet-crafts/

S & T

S: spool, saw, snake, spider, spoon, soap, suitcase, swift, sailboat, sparkler, sandcastle, satellite, sponge, sapphire, squash, sugar, sand, salt, sea, sports, sheep, seal, shirt, shoe, stone, shark, shell, sky, sleep, slow, soup, smile, smell, speak, slide, snow, star, small, soil, stamp, silk, shampoo, sandals, snowmen, scissors, soccer, sun, sunglasses, strawberry, screwdriver

Dennis    Snakes on a Train

Willems    Can I Play, too?

Carle    The Greedy Python

Carle    The Very Busy Spider

Bijsterb    Everyone is Yawning

Razi    Frank the 7 legged Spider

Dean    Pete the Cat and the itsy bitsy spider

Barton    I'm trying to love spiders

Hopgood    Walter's Wonderful Web

Grant    Bear's Scare

Stevens    And the dish ran away with the spoon

T:  Tractor, train, two, ten, trip, time, thunder, teacher, tickle, tooth, thumb, tent, tomato, thanks, town, twenty, twelve, traffic, total, tea, trampoline, tree, taco, toys, ticket, telephone, trumpet, treasure, turkey, tiger, toad, toucan, tarantula, tortoise, turtle

BOOKS:

Will and Squill, by Emma Chichester Clark

Otis Loves to Play, by Loren Long

FINGERPLAY:

I used this fingerplay as a flannel board ... I cut out five squirrel patterns out of different browns and blacks of felt, and took one off the board after each verse.

Five Little Squirrels

Five little squirrels with acorns to store

One went to sleep and then there were four!

Four little squirrels hunting acorns in a tree.

One fell down, and now there are three!

Three little squirrels wondering  what to do.

One got lost and now there are two!

Two little squirrels tossing acorns for fun.

One got tired, and now there is one!

One little squirrel playing in the sun,

He ran away, now there are none.

https://preschoolmom.com/preschool-crafts/alphabet-crafts/

Why We Do What We Do?

*I* know why we do what we do...we being teachers and children's library staff, and what we do being encouraging children to read and teaching parents/guardians about the importance of early literacy.....but sometimes we need that reference or that documentation to help others understand.

6x6 is the title of an early literacy movement the State of Kansas adopted a few years ago (it may be nationwide, I'm not sure).  The Johnson County Library system in the Kansas City, Kansas, suburbs really took the "bull by the horns" so to speak, and have awesome resources on their website.

Here is a link to an RSS feed with some different topics included.  It doesn't look like it has been updated in about a year, however, unfortunately.

http://www.jocolibrary.org/templates/JCL_RssProvider.aspx?id=14733

Another link to an article that I really, really liked, and I would like to keep track of it.  It is called
Secrets of Storytime: 10 Tips for Great Sessions from a 40-year Pro.

http://www.slj.com/2013/08/literacy/secrets-of-storytime-10-tips-for-great-sessions-from-a-40-year-pro/#_