S - Spiders & Snowmen: April 27-28, 2015

Books:
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
I'm a Shark by Bob Shea
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry *
A Pet for Petunia by Paul Schmid *
Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner *
Spots in a Box by Helen Ward
Squirrels on Skis by J. Hamilton Ray

Craft: Shark
Our craft was based on the picture above. Instead of making pictures of sharks, each child was given a cardstock cutout of a shark to color.  They then glued on eyes and teeth.

Literacy Extension:
- Practice letter recognition by having your child point out all the letter "S"s on a page you are reading.
- Talk with your child about how we make words plural.  Most words simply add a letter "S" to the end of the word to make it plural.  However, some words change in other ways. (i.e. foot and feet, hippopotamus and hippopotami, etc.)

Q / R - Quilts & Rain: April 20-21, 2015

Books:
Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes *
Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog by Jon Agee
A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas *
Robots Everywhere by Denny Hebson *
Who Likes Rain? by Wong Herbert Yee *

Craft: My Q Quilt
This week the kids made a paper quilt with quilt squares featuring the letter "Q" or items that start with the letter "Q".  The kids colored the squares before gluing them to a 3x3 grid.

Literacy Extensions:
- The letter "R" is a great opportunity to practice rhyming.  Instead of focusing on the start of words this week practice word ending phonics by coming up with rhyming words.
- Another fun "R" activity is riddles.  Grab a riddle book and see how many your child can figure out.  Don't worry if they don't figure out the riddles.  The word play is fun to read also.


Notes:
I was unable to find a book featuring the letter "Q" that liked.  So we ended up reading "R" books and making a "Q" craft.  It worked out pretty good.

P - Pandas & Pigs: April 13-14, 2015

Books:
Baby Penguins Everywhere! by Melissa Guion *
Can You Make a Piggy Giggle? by Linda Ashman
Chengdu Could Not, Would Not Fall Asleep by Barney Saltzberg *
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore by David McPhail
This Little Pirate by Philemon Sturges

Craft: Standing Peacock
Our craft this week was based on the picture at right.  We did make several changes to it though.  The children each got a peacock body and a tail to color and sequins to glue to the tail.  They then made the peacock "stand" by sliding the tail onto the body using slits that had been cut in them.

Literacy Extensions:
- Do you know how many different types of penguins there are?  Investigate penguins with your child and learn more about the various types of penguins.
- Practice phonics and letter recognition with your child.  See how many words your child can come up with that start with the letter "P".

O - Owls and Ocean: April 6-7, 2015

Books:
As an Oak Tree Grows by G. Brian Karas
Big Egg by Molly Coxe
Colors of the Ocean by Laura Purdie Salas
I Am Otter by Sam Garton
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal *
My Octopus Arms by Keith Baker *
Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Marianne Berkes *

Craft: Octopus
Our craft this week was based on the craft pictured above.  A piece of cardstock was cut in half and eight arms cut about 2/3 way of the sheet.  The sheet was then colored and glued into a cylinder.  The arms could be rolled or folded.

Literacy Extensions:
- Have your child continue the Over in the Ocean rhyme with other ocean creatures.
- Practice the different sounds of the letter "O".  See if your child can come up with words that use the different sounds (i.e. oo - Hoot, long o - old, short o - hot, etc.)