Blue Story Time - March 25-26, 2013

Books:

The Big Blue Spot - Peter Holwitz *
Blueberry Mouse by Alice Low
Dog Blue by Polly Dunbar *
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard *
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
What's the Matter, Blue Bunny? by Nicola Smee

Craft: Blue Bird
I revised this craft slightly from the picture.  For the bird's body, cut a small paper plate in half and then cut a small slit in towards the bottom of the curved side.  The wings is a quarter piece of blue paper accordian-folded and slid through the slit.  Bend the paper up slightly and open up the wings.  The tail was made of blue crepe paper strips and the beak was a yellow triangle.  Instead of covering the bird with tissue paper, we simply colored the birds and then drew on an eye.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk about how colors can be made be mixing two other colors together (i.e. - yellow and blue make green) like in The Big Blue Spot.
- Try to name as many blue items as you can.

Yellow Story Time - March 18-19, 2013

Books:
Banana! by Ed Vere
Dig! by Andrea Zimmerman *
In My New Yellow Shirt by Eileen Spinelli *
The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
Press Here by Herve Tullet
Wake Up, Sun! by David L. Harrison *

Craft: Paper Plate Sun
Children drew a face onto a paper plate before gluing pieces of yellow tissue paper over the top of it.  Strips of yellow paper were glued to the back of the plate as the sun's rays.

Literacy Extenders:
- Discuss different things you could pretend to be if wearing yellow as in the book In My New Yellow Shirt.
- Draw a map of the town and job sites in Dig!.

Green: A Colors Story Time - March 11-12, 2013

Books:
Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley *
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
My Snake Blake by Randy Siegel
Snip Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman *
Way Up High in a Tall Green Tree by Jan Peck
Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox *

Craft: Shamrock Necklace
Children colored a shamrock cut out of cardstock before stringing it onto curling ribbon with pony beads.

Literacy Expanders:
- Learn more about the various animals in the Way Up High in a Tall Green Tree.
- Talk about how the sound effects and selected words (i.e. slithered, etc) helped to create tension in the book Snip Snap! What's That?.

Red: A Colors Story Time - March 4-5, 2013

Books:
Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell *
Ned's New Home by Kevin Tseng *
On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson *
Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton *
Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo Le Sieg
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

Craft: Fredbird Hat
A child came in wearing one of these homemade Fredbird (St. Louis Cardinals' mascot) hats in 2011 during the postseason run.  I immediately asked to take a picture knowing that we would make the craft someday.  It finally fit into one of my story time themes.  The head is made from a 8-1/2" square of red paper with black eyes and a yellow beak glued onto it.  Strips of red paper were glued to the back to make the hat band.  It was a very cute and very popular craft with the kids and adults.

Literacy Expanders:
- List foods with your child that are red.
- Talk about words that sound the same but mean different things (i.e. - red and read, their, they're and there, etc.)