December 17, 2014 Story Time - Snow & Snowmen

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

*marks the books we read


Snowballs  by Lois Ehlert*
Snow Happy!  by Patricia Hubbell
Animal Camouflage in the Snow  by Martha E. H. Rustad*
100 Snowmen  by Jen Arena
Winter is for Snow  by Robert Neubecker*
Snow Day for Mouse  by Judy Cox
Snowmen at Christmas  by Caralyn Buehner*
Snowbots  by Aaron Reynolds

For our craft we decorated a snowman with winter stickers

Extra activities:

We talked about what you need to decorate a snowman

We sang "Frosty the Snowman"
Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
with a corncob pipe and a button nose
and two eyes made out of coal.
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say,
he was made of snow but the children
know how he came to life one day.
There must have been some magic in that
old silk hat they found.
For when they placed it on his head
he began to dance around.
O, Frosty the snowman
was alive as he could be.
And the children say he could laugh
and play just the same as you and me.
Thumpetty thump thump,
thumpetty thump thump,
look at Frosty go.
Thumpetty thump thump,
thumpetty thump thump
over the hills of snow!

December 10, 2014 Story Time - Building Block Award Books 2014

This is our last week to read and vote on the Missouri Building Block award book nominees for 2014.

*marks the books we read


Open Very Carefully A Book with Bite  by Nicola O'Byrne* (Building Block nominee)
The Watermelon Seed  by Greg Pizzoli* (Building Block nominee)
Crocodiles Are The Best Animals Of All!  by Sean Taylor*
My Crocodile Does Not Bite  by Joe Kulka
Crocodile Listens  by April Pulley Sayre

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


Extra Activities
We talked about the differences between alligators and crocodiles
*crocodiles have a longer more V shaped head while alligators have a shorter, wider U shaped head
*the fourth tooth of a crocodile sticks out when it's mouth is closed
*crocodiles are better adapted to living in seawater; alligators favor freshwater
*crocodiles have a lighter appearance than alligators
*corcodiles in the wild are found all over the world while alligators are only found in the US and China

Crocodile, Crocodile Turn Around
(suit actions to words)
crocodile, crocodile turn around
crocodile, crocodile touch the ground
crocodile, crocodile dance on your toes
crocodile, crocodile touch your nose
crocodile, crocodile jump up now
crocodile, crocodile take a bow
crocodile, crocodile stomp your feet
crocodile, crocodile take a seat

There was a Crocodile
there was a crocodile who lived in the glade (open and close hand for mouth)
he swam in the swamp (twist arms side to side)
and napped in the shade (pretend to sleep)
he snapped at a bird (open and close hands)
he snapped at a bee (repeat)
he snapped at a frog (repeat)
AND he snapped at me (repeat)

he caught the bird (open and close hands)
he caught the bee (repeat)
he caught the frog (repeat)
but he didn't catch me! (shake head NO)

December 3, 2014 Story Time - Building Block Award Books 2014

For the first two weeks of December we will be reading and voting on the 2014 Building Block Award nominee books

*marks the books we read:


Mustache Baby  by Bridget Heos* (Building Block nominee)
I Dare You Not to Yawn  by Helene Boudreau* (Building Block nominee)
Don't let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!  by Mo Willems*
Yawn  by Sally Symes*

For our craft we colored different shaped mustaches and taped them to craft sticks

Extra activities:

Stretch up High
Stretch up high, as high as a house
curl up small, as small as a mouse
now pretend you have a drum and beat it like this: rum, tum, tum
shake your fingers,
stamp your feet,
close your eyes,
and go to sleep!

November 26, 2014 Story Time - Building Block Award Books 2014

For the next two months we will be reading and voting on the 2014 Missouri Building Block award nominee books.

*marks the books we read


This Little Piggy  by Tim Harrington*
Ribbit!  by Rodrigo Folgueira*

For our craft we made a paper bag frog like the one found here:
http://goo.gl/55G3ob

Extra activities:
Little Frog
I'm a little frog (point to self)
sitting on a log
Listen to my song (hand to ear)
I sing it all day long (cup hands to mouth)
Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!
If I'm hungry, I eat flies (hand to mouth)
and I can blink my eyes (blink)
I hop, and hop and hop (jump 3 times)
and then, I stop! (clap clap)

Two Mother Pigs
Two mother pigs lived in a pen (show thumbs)
each had four babies, and that made ten (show fingers & thumbs)
these four babies were black as night (thumb in palm, wiggle fingers)
these four babies were black and white (switch hands, repeat)
but all eight babies loved to play
and they rolled and rolled in the mud all day (roll hands)
at night, with their mother, they curled up in a heap (clasp hands)
and squealed and squealed till they fell fast asleep

November 19, 2014 Story Time - Building Block Award Books 2014

For the next two months we will be reading and voting on the 2014 Missouri Building Block award nominee books.

*marks the books we read


Count the Monkeys  by Mac Barnett*
Little Nelly's Big Book  by Pippa Goodhart*

For our craft we made a monkey mask like the one here:
http://goo.gl/h887oO

Extra activities:
We sang "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and "Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree"

November 12, 2014 Story Time - Turkeys & Thanksgiving

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

*marks the books we read


Gobble Gobble  by Cathryn Falwell*
I'm A Turkey  by Jim Arnosky
Turkey Day  by Grace Maccarone
Thanksgiving at Our House  by P.K. Hallinan*
Thanksgiving is For Giving Thanks  by Margaret Sutherland
The Best Thanksgiving Ever!  by Teddy Slater

For our craft we made a leaf turkey like the one pictured here:
http://goo.gl/tYTS0U

Extra Activities
We talked about the letter "T" the sound it makes and words that start with "T"

Mr. Turkey
Mr. Turkey's tail is big and wide (spread fingers)
He swings it when he walks (swing hands)
His neck is long (stretch neck or pull hands apart)
His chin is red (stroke chin)
And he gobbles when he talks (open and close hands and gobble)

Turkey Wore His Red Feather (sung to Mary Wore Her Red Dress)
Turkey wore his red feather, red feather, red feather
turkey wore his red feather, all day long!

Turkey wore his orange feather, orange feather, orange feather
turkey works his orange feather, all day long!

We repeated the song with yellow and brown feathers

Last line: Turkey wore his rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers
turkey wore his rainbow feathers, all Thanksgiving long!

I handed out several feathers of each color and had the children wave their feather when their color was sung about. Then all of the feathers were waved at the end to make a rainbow of feathers

November 5, 2014 Story Time - Building Block Award Books 2014

For the next two months we will be reading and voting on the 2014 Missouri Building Block Award Nominee books.

*marks the books we read


The two nominees we read this week were:
That is Not a Good Idea!  by Mo Willems*
Moo!  by David LaRochelle*
Extra books:
The Cow Who Clucked  by Denise Fleming*
Blue Goose  by Nancy Tafuri*
Out Foxed  by Mike Twohy*
Cock-a-doodle-doo, Creak, Pop-pop, Moo  by Jim Aylesworth

For our craft we made a simple origami fox like the one found here:
http://goo.gl/BfMbi2

Extra activities:
We played a color guessing game with the information found here:
http://goo.gl/V61okd
I made a copy of the coloring sheets with the poem for everyone