Our Favorite Books 2013: December 30, 2013

Books:
Oliver and His Alligator by Paul Schmid *
Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite by Nicola O'Byrne *
That Is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli *

Craft: Alligator
The craft we did is based on the picture to the left.  The template can be found at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/02/06/id-snap-at-the-chance-to-be-your-valentine/.  Ours was a little different in that we did a flat body instead of the pillow box body.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk with your child about how plants grow (i.e. The Watermelon Seed)
- Discuss with your child things that they are scared of and ways they might cope (i.e. Oliver and His Alligator)

Christmas Story Time: December 23, 2013

Books:
Babushka by Sandra Ann Horn
Dinosaur vs. Santa by Bob Shea *
Have You Been Naughty or Nice? by Ethan Long *
How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas? by Jane Yolen
Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve by Janet Morgan Stoeke
Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
The Three Bears' Christmas by Kathy Duval *

Craft: Triangle Santa
The craft we did was based on the picture above.  It was fairly simple to make.  Our version was flat and did not stand up although that would have been very cute.  The other main difference is that we used cotton balls for the beard and hat trim.

Literacy Extensions:
- Write a letter to Santa with your child explaining any bad misdeeds (i.e. Have You Been Naughty or Nice?)
-  Try to come up with Christmas versions of popular fairy and folk tales (i.e. The Three Bears' Christmas)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 16-17, 2013

Books:
Bear and Bee by Sergio Ruzzier *
Bug Patrol by Denise Dowling Mortensen
Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein *
Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek
Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira *

Craft: Dinosaur Coloring Book
The book was compiled of coloring pages from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/printouts/a.shtml.

Literacy Extensions:
- Ask your child to describe different animals.  See how the descriptions compare with other animals. (i.e. Bear and Bee)
- Talk about ways your child can try to make new friends (i.e. Ribbit!)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 9-10, 2013

Books:
Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett *
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I Dare You NOT to Yawn by Helene Boudreau *
Warning: Do Not Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
Yoo-Hoo Ladybug! by Mem Fox

Craft:
This week's craft was inspired by the paperbag monkey costume found at http://www.bellebebes.co.uk/tag/owl/.  We did not use a paperbag but instead made a flat monkey head out of cardstock.  A face was printed onto half a sheet of cardstock.  Two circles were glued to the sides for the ears.  A craft stick was glued above the eyes for the eyebrow.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk about the different types of sentences and how they change depending on the ending punctuation (i.e. Exclamation Point)
- Play a game of I Spy with your child focusing on colors and letters of the alphabet (i.e. Yoo-Hoo Ladybug!)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 2-3, 2013

Books:
Crankee Doodle by Tom Angleberger
Lucky Ducklings by Eva Moore
Moo! by David LaRochelle *
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown *
Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid *

Craft: Cow Puppet
Children colored a cow mask I found online and glued it to a jumbo craft stick to make into a puppet.  If they wanted to make it into a mask, they could cut out the eyes at home.

Literacy Extensions:
- Ask your child to convey different emotions while using the same word of phrase (i.e. Moo!)
- Discuss with your child how wild animals act differently from tame animals or people (i.e. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild)