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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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.






Thursday, January 23, 2014

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







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.






Wednesday, January 8, 2014

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/#_