Opposites Story Time: August 25-26, 2014

Books:
Big Dog . . . Little Dog by P.D. Eastman *
Black? White! Day? Night! A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger *
Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper *
Pomelo's Opposites by Ramona Badescu
You and Me: We're Opposites by Harriet Ziefert

Craft: Stop / Go Sign
Children were given a stop sign cutout and the word "GO" to color and then glue to a small paper plate.  A large craft stick was glued to the plate to make it into a Stop Sign on one side and a Go Sign on the other.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice opposites with your child by seeing how many opposites your child can come up with (i.e. big & small, high & low, etc.)
- Reinforce the idea of opposites by playing a game of Simon Says. (i.e. Stretch up high, touch the floor, etc.)

Shapes Story Time: August 18-19, 2014

Books:
Circle Dogs by Kevin Henkes
A Circle in the Sky by Zachary Wilson *
Dinosaur Shapes by Paul & Henrietta Stickland *
Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh 
Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald *
Shape Spotters by Megan E. Bryant *
Shapes That Roll by Karen Nagel


Craft: Shapes Match Sheet
Kids matched cut out shapes to a coloring sheet to make a rocket ship.

Literacy Extensions:
- See what shapes your child can spot all around him / her (i.e. Shape Spotters)
- Make a shapes collage.  Cut out various shapes and see what pictures your child can make with them.

Numbers Story Time: August 11-12, 2014

Books:
Chicka Chicka 1-2-3 by Bill Martin Jr. *
Let's Count Goats! by Mem Fox
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Night Light by Nicholas Blechman *
The Right Number of Elephants by Jeff Sheppard *
 Warthogs in the Kitchen: A Sloppy Counting Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Craft: Chicka Chicka Apple Tree
Children colored the top of brown lunch bag green to make into a tree.  They then colored apples number 1-10.  They could either glue on the apples or they could leave the apples loose and store them in the bag so they could recreate the story of Chicka Chicka 1-2-3.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice counting as you go through the day.  For example, you can count the number of chips eaten during snack time.  Or count the number of people you see at the park on the playground.
- Have your child "write" their own book based on The Right Number of Elephants.  Pick an animal and see how many of them your child thinks they would need for various activities.

Alphabet Story Time: August 4-5, 2014

Books:
A Is for Salad by Mike Lester
Animal ABC by Marcus Pfister *
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. *
Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss
Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC by Laura Leuck *
Little Bitty Mousie by Jim Aylesworth
Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth

Craft: Alphabet Coloring Book
I found a printable alphabet coloring book online and printed it for the kids to color.  There are several available - simply choose your favorite one for your child.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice written letter recognition.  Have your child point out all of the featured letters on a particular page.  Dr. Seuss's ABC works great for this as it uses both upper case and lower case letters.
- Practice phonetics by seeing if your child can go through the alphabet by giving their sounds rather than their names.