W is for Winter (Olympics)

To celebrate the Winter Olympics I did a winter fun theme for outreach programs this month.  I mixed up the books depending on the amount of time I had, how attentive the children were, etc.

Books (KinderCare)

Pearl's New Skates  by Holly Keller

Snowman Magic  by Katherine Tegan; illustrated by Brandon Dorman

Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee  by Chris Van Dusen

Books (Welcome School)

A Perfect Day  by Carin Berger

The Snowmen Pop-up Book  by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner

Bunnies on Ice  by Johanna Wright

Songs/Action Activities

Snow  

Sung to: "This old Man"

Snow is falling on the ground
We can make things all around
Like snowmen, snowballs
Snow forts, too.
There are lots of things to do.

Snow is falling come and see
You can have some fun with me
sledding, skating, skiing, too,
There are lots of things to do.

Build a Snowman

Act out getting dressed to go outside, building a snowman, adding all the snowman features, going inside and getting hot chocolate.

Five Little Snowmen (action rhyme)

Five little snowmen standing in a row.
(Hold up five fingers)

Each had two eyes and a carrot nose.
(Point to eyes; point to nose.)

Along came the sun and shone all day,
(Hold arms over head)

And one little snowman melted away.
(Hold up one finger; slowly "melt" to the ground.)

Four little snowmen...
Three little snowmen...
Two little snowmen...
One little snowman...

S is for Spiders...and other things that scare me!

There are things that may scare us...be we can also learn to be very brave!

Books

Aaaarrgghh! Spider!  by Lydia Monks

Go Away, Big Green Monster  by Ed Emberley

Used in place of a flannel board.  We "blow" the parts of the monster away!

Boom! Big, Big Thunder and One Small Dog  by Mary Lyn Ray; illustrated by Steven Salerno

Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays

There's a Spider on the Floor (words adapted by Tammy Henry)

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
Who could ask for any more than a spider on the floor?
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

There's a spider on my toe, on my toe
There's a spider on my toe, on my toe
How could it be so? There's a spider on my toe!
There's a spider on my toe, on my toe.

There's a spider on my knee, on my knee
There's a spider on my knee, on my knee
Oh, how could it be? There's a spider on my knee!
There's a spider on my knee, on me knee.

There's a spider on my tummy, on my tummy
There's a spider on my tummy, on my tummy
Oh it really isn't funny! There's a spider on my tummy!
There's a spider on my tummy, on my tummy.

There's a spider on my arm, on my arm
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.
Oh, it doesn't mean any harm, this spider on my arm!
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.

There's a spider on my face, on my face
There's a spider on my face, on my face
Oh, what a big disgrace! There's a spider on my face!
There's a spider on my face, on my face.

There's a spider on my head, on my head
There's a spider on my head, on my head
Oh, I wish I was in bed! There's a spider on my head!
There's a spider on my head, on my head.

Now, the spider's on the floor, on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor
Who could ask for any more, than a spider on the floor
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffett sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider
And sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away!

What else scared Miss Muffet away?  Answers included: dog, alligator, and dragon

Enrichment Activities

Spider webs

Cut and paste--match number of dots on spider with numeral on web from Paging Supermom

Enjoying Go Away, Big Green Monster

Buffet

Book Display 

Buffet--All You Can Read!

Pictures books, chapter books and non-fiction books about food and eating!!

R is for Raccoon...and other forest animals

A day to celebrate my storytime puppet friend, Henrietta Raccoon!

Books

Brave Little Raccoon  by Erica Wolf

Little Owl's Night  by Divya Srinivasan

Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays

If you're ever in the forest
(tune:  Have you ever seen a Lassie?)

If you're ever in the forest, the forest, the forest
If you're ever in the forest, you might see a raccoon.
It climbs a tree and hides from me.
If you're ever in the forest you might see a raccoon.

Additional verse:

Deer...With antlers on one, the other may run
Snake...It hides in grass and slithers real fast
Skunk...It's black and white, get out of sight!

Wise, Old Owl
There was a wise, old owl--
Who lived up in a tree.
He sat upon a branch--
So all the world he'd see.
He looked at a snake,
He looked at a bee.
He looked at a mouse,
But he winked at me!

Enrichment Activities

Sorting small, medium, and big forest animals (from Two Teaching Mommies)

Forest Animal Tracks puzzle (also from Two Teaching Mommies)

Make a simple bird feeder
Cheerios on a pipe cleaner to hang in a tree

Forest Tree Puppet and finger puppets

Valentines I passed out to my preschool pals!

Have a "dino"-mite Valentine's Day!  (with plastic dinosaur)
Have a colorful Valentine's Day! (with pack of 4 crayons)
You blow me away Valentine! (with bubbles)
Have a crazy Valentine's Day! (with crazy straw)

Read 20 minutes a Day!

Source

Take Your Child to the Library Day--Luau Style!

It has been so cold here in Nebraska that we thought a Luau theme would be a perfect way to celebrate this day!

Activities included:

Pawsitive Reading

Legos @ your library  (to see all the awesome creations visit our Lego blog)

Scavenger Hunt

Bookmarks

Guessing Game

READ posters

And free plastic leis for everyone!

Q is for Quiet and Loud...and other opposites!

This ended up being such a fun storytime!  too bad we had a "snow day" on Wednesday so we only had storytime on Thursday.  Here's what we did!

Books

Quiet Bunny and Noisy Puppy  by Lisa McCue

Animal Opposites: A pop-up book   by Petr Horacek

Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays

Sing a Song of Opposites  (from The complete Daily curriculum for Early Childhood, Revised (2011), Pam Schiller and Pat Phipps, p. 292.)

(tune:  Mary had a little lamb)
Actions to suit words

This is big and this is small
This is big, this is small
This is big and this is small
Sing along with me!

Tall and short
Happy and sad
Fast and slow
Loud and quiet

Parachute Opposites (words by Tammy Henry)
(tune: Farmer in the Dell)

The parachute goes up, the parachute comes down
Up, down, up, down
The parachute goes up and down.

Fast/slow
Moves left/right
In/out
Up/down...then under!

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock.


Enrichment Activities

Short and Long cut and glue activity from here

Opposite Matching Game from Playdough to Plato

Water "Table"--float and sink

The Game of UP and DOWN--Balloons