Rhyming Story Time: August 24-25, 2015

Books:
Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox
Here Comes the Big, Mean Dust Bunny! by  Jan Thomas *
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont *
I Dream of an Elephant by Ami Rubinger *
Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas *

Craft: Rhyming Dust Bunny Puppet
Our craft this week is pictured at left.  Crepe paper strips about 5" long were cut in half longways to make thinner strips.  The strips were glued to a paper lunch bag.  Eyes, a nose, and two ears / horns cutouts were glued to the puppet for features.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice rhyming with your child by asking them to come up with rhyming words for the word you supply (i.e. cat, fat, rat, etc.)
- Read rhyming books with your child.  See if they can supply the rhymes at the end of the line / page.

Shapes Story Time: August 17-18, 2015

Books:
A Circle in the Sky by Zachary Wilson
Circle, Square, Moose by Kelly Bingham
Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh *
Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong
Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald *
Shape Spotters by Megan E. Bryant *
Shapes Are Everywhere! by Charles Ghigna *

Craft: Shapes Mouse
This week's craft was the shapes mouse that was made in the book Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  The children colored the cardstock cutout shapes and then glued them together to make the mouse.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice shape recognition by having your child find different shapes wherever you are at.
- Have your child practice drawing shapes.  Don't worry if they are not perfect.  It is the practice that is important.

Template for Shapes Mouse --

Colors Story Time: August 10-11, 2015

Books:
Baby Shoes by Dashka Slater
Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet *
Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin *
Warthogs Paint: A Messy Color Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards *
White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker

Craft: Jester's Hat
Our craft was based on the picture above.  We used two" strips of yellow paper for the headband of the hat.  Then triangles of red, blue, orange, green and purple were glued to the handband.  Small red, blue, orange, green and purple dots were then glued to the ends of the triangles.

Literacy Extensions:
- Play I Spy spotting colors.
- Mix up some paint colors for an art project.

Numbers & Counting Story Time: August 3-4, 2015

Books:
Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett
Let's Count Goats by Mem Fox *
My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman *
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin *
Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland

Craft: Flower Counting Picture
Our craft this week was based on the photo to the left.  We revised it to be a craft.  The kids colored a sheet with five stems and leaves on it.  They then glued on the appropriate number of circles according to the numbers written at the top of the stems.

Literacy Extensions:
- Practice counting while eating.  Have your child count the number of bites it takes to eat a sandwich, the number of chocolate chips in their cookie, or the number of chips they have, etc.
- Have your child come up with their own counting rhyme like Ten Terrible Dinosaurs where they count down as items disappear.