August 31, 2016 Story Time - Opposites

If you missed this weeks story time here is what we did:

*marks the books we read

Magic Opposites  by Patrick George*
Some Birds  by Matt Spink
Opposites  by Sandra Boynton*
You and Me: We're Opposites  by Harriet Ziefert
My First Look at Sizes  by Jane Yorke*
A Book of Opposites  by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
What's Up, Bear? A Book About Opposites  by Frieda Wishinsky*
The Opposite Zoo  by Il Sung Na

For our craft we colored a happy face and a sad face then glued them to a craft stick to make a puppet

Extra activities
This is big
This is big, big, big (stretch hands far out)
this is small, small, small (cup hands together)
this is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
this is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
this is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
this is slow, slow,slow (roll hands slowly)
this is yes, yes, yes, (nod head)
this is no, no, no (shake head)

August 24, 2016 Story Time - Shapes

If you missed this weeks story time here is what we did:

*marks the books we read

Shapes Are Everywhere  by Charles Ghigna*
Go Shapes Go!  by Denise Fleming
Round and Square  by Miriam Schlein
10 Little Fish  by Harriet Ziefert
Spots in a Box  by Helen Ward*
Shapes  by Sara Pistoia
Friendshape  by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Shape by Shape  by Suse MacDonald*
Shape Shift  by Joyce Hesselberth
Perfect Square  by Michael Hall*
All Year Round  by Susan B. Katz

For our craft we used different shapes and glued them on paper to make a clown. A circle for his face, stars for his eyes, and a crescent for his mouth. Then for his hat we used a rectangle, a triangle and a circle.

Extra activities:

What Shape is This?
(sung to "The Muffin Man")
Do you know what shape this is,
what shape this is, what shape this is,
do you know what shape this is,
I'm holding in my hand?
(I held up shapes and the children had to guess what shape I was holding and what color the shape was. I used a yellow circle, blue rectangle, pink star, purple diamond, red oval, green square and an orange triangle)

August 17, 2016 Story Time - Counting & Numbers

If you missed this weeks story time here is what we did:

*marks the books we read

Ten in the Den  by John Butler*
Two at the Zoo-A Counting Book  by Danna Smith
Ones and Twos  by Marthe & Nell Jocelyn
Ten Hungry Pigs  by Derek Anderson*
1..2 Buckle My Shoe  by Anna Grossnickle Hines
My First Look at Numbers  by Jane Yorke*
One Tractor-A Counting Book  by Alexandra Siy
Fish Eyes-A Book You Can Count On  by Lois Ehlert
One Two That's My Shoe!  by Alison Murray*
Ten Pigs-An Epic Bath Adventure  by Derek Anderson
Steam Train, Dream Train 1-2-3  by Sherri Duskey Rinker & Tom Lichtenheld
1-2-3 Peas  by Keith Baker
One Big Pair of Underwear  by Laura Gehl
Ten in the Bed  by Jane Cabrera

For our craft we made this:
http://goo.gl/G0AGdy

Extra activities
We played a number guessing game and counted forward up to 10 then down again

Song-
One, two, buckle my shoe
three, four, shut the door
five, six, pick up sticks
seven, eight, lay them straight
nine, ten, a big fat hen

Ten in the Bed
There were ten in the bed, and the little one said "roll over, roll over"
so they all rolled over and one fell out
there were nine in the bed, and the little one said "roll over, roll over"
so they all rolled over and one fell out.....
(repeat until you reach one; then sing there was one in the bed and the little one said "good night!"

August 10, 2016 Story Time - Colors

If you missed this weeks story time here is what we did:

*marks the books we read

A Book of Colors Butterfly Butterfly  by Petr Horacek*
Colors  by Nina Filipek
The Deep Blue Sea-A Book of Colors  by Audrey Wood*
The Red Hen  by Rebecca Emberley
Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color  by Julia Denos
Red: A Crayon's Story  by Michael Hall
My First Look At Colors  by Jane Yorke*
The Day the Crayons Came Home  by Drew Daywalt
Lemons Are NOT Red  by Laura Vaccaro Seeger*

For our craft we colored a cat like this, then taped on a stick to make it a puppet

Extra activities:
Find the color (sung to the muffin man)
Oh, can you find the color blue
the color blue, the color blue
oh, can you find the color blue
somewhere in this room?

The Color That I See
Blue, blue is the color that I see
if you are wearing blue, then show it to me!
stand up! turn around!
show me your blue and sit back down!
(add more colors like; red, yellow, green orange, etc)

Scat the Cat
Once upon a time there was a little black cat and his name was Scat the Cat (put up black cat).
One day he looked around and noticed that there were so many beautiful colors and he wanted to be a different color too! so he said:
"I'm Scat the Cat. I'm sassy and fat and I can change my color just like that"! (take black cat down and clap your hands)

All of a sudden he was green (put up green cat) like the trees and the grass (ask children what other things are green). He went out to play with his friends but they couldn't see him. He was so sad and decided he didn't want to be green anymore, so he said:
"I'm Scat the Cat. I'm sassy and fat and I can change my color just like that! (take green cat down and clap your hands)

All of a sudden he was blue (put blue cat up) like the water and sky (ask children what other things are blue). He walked to the lake to look in the water but he fell in! He couldn't swim but his friend Timothy Turtle found him and carried him back to shore. Scat was very sad and decided he didn't want to be blue anymore, so he said:
"I'm Scat the Cat. I'm sassy and fat and I can change my color just like that! (take blue cat down and clap your hands)

All of a sudden Scat was yellow (put yellow cat up) like the sun! (ask the children what other things are yellow). He walked into the jungle and came across Leo the Lion who roared "I'm the only one who is yellow in this jungle!" Scat was so afraid he decided he didn't want to be yellow any more so he said:
I"m Scat the Cat. I'm sassy and fat and I can change my color just like that!" (take yellow cat down and clap your hands)

All of a sudden Scat was red (put up red cat) like an apple. (ask the children what other things are red). He went to play with his friends but they laughed at him. After all, who ever heard of a red cat?
Scat was very sad and decided he didn't want to be red anymore, so he said:
"I'm Scat the Cat. I'm sassy and fat and I can change my color just like that!" (take red cat down and clap your hands)

I don't want to be red, I don't want to be yellow, I don't want to be blue and I don't want to be green. I want to be Scat the black cat again
Scat changed back to black (put black cat up) and was happy just being himself

August 3, 2016 Story Time - Alphabet (ABC's)

If you missed this weeks story time here is what we did:

*marks the books we read

Sleepy ABC  by Margaret Wise Brown*
Apple Pie ABC  by Alison Murray
ABC School's for Me!  by Susan B. Katz*
All the Awake Animals are Almost Asleep  by Crescent Dragonwagon
Square Cat ABC  by Elizabeth Schoonmaker*
Alpha Oops! The Day Z Went First  by Alethea Kontis*
ABCs on Wheels  by Ramon Olivera

For our craft we made a picture like this one:
 http://goo.gl/TBFZiF

Extra activities
The Alphabet Song
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
H, I, J, K,
L, M, N, O, P,
Q, R, S,
T, U, V,
W, X,
Y and Z
now I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me

We talked about words that start with the letter "U" like: umbrella, up, under, underwear, etc.

We played "Thumbs Up" a game about words that start with the letter "U". If I said a word that started with "U" the children gave me a thumbs up; if I said a word that didn't start with the letter "U" they gave me a thumbs down