D - Dragons & Dinosaurs: January 26-27, 2015

Books:
Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein *
Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
Ducks Don't Wear Socks by John Nedwidek *
My Dad is Big and Strong, But . . . by Coralie Saudo
Oh So Brave Dragon by David Kirk *
Who Wants a Dragon? by James Mayhew

Craft: Dog
Our craft this week is based on the picture at left.  The only difference was that we just used strips of cardstock folded in half instead of envelopes.  The children colored the cardstock before gluing on ears and a tongue.

Literacy Extensions:
- Pick a specific dinosaur and see how much you can learn about it.  See if the library has a book on that specific type of dinosaur or if it is in a general dinosaur book.
- Discuss bravery with your child.  What makes someone brave?  (i.e. Oh So Brave Dragon)

C - Cookies & Cupcakes: January 20, 2015

Books:
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds *
Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper *
Fortune Cookies by Albert Bitterman *
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Craft: Paper Plate Clown
We made a very simple clown this week.  Children colored a triangle hat, bowtie, and small paper plate with a face.  They then glued the pieces together along with strips of red paper for hair.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk with your child about how the letter "c" makes different sounds.  It has the hard "c" in clock and the soft "c" in city.  You could also discuss how the sound changes when added to an "h" in change.
- For a fun activity have your child try to come up with fortunes for a fortune cookie. (i.e. Fortune Cookies)

Notes:
There was no Monday story time this week due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
It was interesting that all of our books this week had to do with food.

B - Bears & Books: January 12-13, 2015

Books:
Bears in the Bath by Shirley Parenteau *
Emily's Balloon by Komako Sakai
Hello, Bicycle! by Ella Boyd *
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert *
The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore

Craft: Bugs
Our craft this week was based on the picture to the left.  We changed it to make it out of cardstock.  So the bodies were strips of cardstock that were colored and glued into loops.  Kids then also colored two cardstock wings to glue onto the body.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice letter recognition by having your child point out the "B"s as you read the book.
- Learn about your favorite type of bug.  Is it an insect or a spider?

A - Alligators & Apples: January 5-6, 2014

Books:
Ants at the Picnic by Michael Dahl *
Ned's New Home by Kevin Tseng *
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes
Snip Snap! What's That? by Mara Bergman *
Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg

Craft: Alien Headband
Children were given two strips of cardstock (8-1/2" x 1-1/2") to color and glue into a circle for the headband.  They then colored three cardstock eyeballs.  The eyeballs were taped to half pieces of pipe cleaner which were then taped to the headband.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice letter recognition by having your child point out all the letter "A"s in the book you are reading.  Start with the capital letters.  Then see if they can point out the lower case letters.  Finally have then point out both types.
- Talk about how some letters have more than one sound - especially vowels.  Practice the two sounds - long and short - for the letter "A".

Notes:
This is the first week of our five-month series on the Alphabet.  Each week we will focus on one letter of the alphabet.  This week we read about ants, alligators and apples.  We then made an alien headband as our craft.
Unfortunately, my voice was not up to story time this week.  I only made it through two of the books on Monday before my voice went out.
The favorite book by far was Ants at the Picnic by Michael Dahl.  Although it was a simple listing of everything the ants stole at a picnic, the kids absolutely loved it.