Building Block 2013 Nominees Story Time: September 23-24, 2013

Books:
Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy by Jan Thomas *
Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton *
One Special Day by Lola M. Schaefer *

Craft: Cow Headband
Children colored a cow head cut out from cardstock and then glued it to strips of paper made into a headband.  A cotton ball could be glued to the head for hair.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk about fears you and your child might have.  Discuss ways to possibly overcome those fears.  (Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy)
- Discuss how babies need to be treated (i.e. One Special Day)

Building Block 2013 Nominees Story Time: September 16-17, 2013

Books:
Find a Cow Now by Janet Stevens *
I'm Bored by Michael Ian Black *
It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle *

Craft: Flamingo
Children were given a flamingo body cut out of cardstock to color.  They could then choose a piece of pipe cleaner to bend in half and tape on as legs.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk with your child about how they know what certain animals are like in Find a Cow Now.
- Figure out what you can do with a potato that might be fun (I'm Bored).

Building Block 2013 Nominees Story Time: September 9-10, 2013

Books:
Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj *
The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems *
(Each week we will be reading 2-3 of the ten 2013 Missouri Building Block Award nominee books.)

Craft: Cat Face
For this week's craft, we made the cat face of the craft pictured.  My original thought was to make it into the mask, but thought cutting out all the eye holes would be too time-consuming.  So instead we just made the face.  Several of the kids commented that they were going to either attach a craft stick to the face to make it into a puppet or either cut out the eye holes to make it into a mask when they got home.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk about manners and the importance of saying "please" and "thank you" to go with The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?
-  Discuss how various animals might behave and act out those behaviors like the cats in Cat Secrets.

Building Block Award Story Time - Past Winners: September 3, 2013

Books:
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer *
Bubblegum, Bubblegum by Lisa Wheeler
Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug by Ed Emberley
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont
Llama, Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
No, David! by David Shannon
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen *
Press Here by Herve Tullet *

Craft: Pout-Pout Fish
The children were given a fish cutout with a smile / frown drawn onto it.  It could be made into a Pout-Pout Fish or a Kiss-Kiss Fish depending on where you glued the eye.  They could also glue on tissue paper and sequins to decorate the fish.

Literacy Extensions:
- Discuss bullying with your child.  Talk about methods of dealing with bullies and how important it is to not be a bully.  (Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug)
- Go over animal sounds with your child (i.e. - horse = neigh, lion = roar, etc.) to go with Bark, George.