Tops & Bottoms Story Time: February 22-23, 2016

Books:
Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep by Teri Sloat *
If Elephants Wore Pants by Henriette Barkow
In My New Yellow Shirt by Eileen Spinelli
The Nuts: Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants by Eric Litwin *
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin *

Craft: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons
The kids colored a card stock head, two arms and two legs cut from a template I drew.  They then folded a quarter sheet of yellow paper so that the edges met in the middle to make a shirt.  The upper corners could be turned down to make a collar.  They then picked for small stickers to use as groovy buttons to close the shirt.

Literacy Extensions:
- After reading Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons practice counting.  Have your child count various things on their clothes (i.e. stripes on their shirt, pockets on their pants, etc.)
- After reading My New Yellow Shirt have your child stretch their imagination by coming up with different things they could be in the outfit they are wearing.


Notes:
I originally thought to have the kids pick out the stickers they wanted to use.  However, this did not work very well.  We got a traffic jam at the sticker bowls.  We also had a lot of younger children who were not yet counting.

Template for Pete the Cat --

Underwear Story Time: February 16, 2016

Books:
Brief Thief by Michael Escoffier
The Frog Who Lost His Underpants by Juliette MacIver
Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman & Ben Cort *
Polar Bear's Underwear by Tupera Tupera *
Underpants Dance by Marlena Zapf
Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman

Craft: Monster in Underwear
The children were given a cardstock cutout of a monster to color and then glue on a pair of paper underwear.  (Template for monster below.  I had to draw the template for the underwear.)

Literacy Extensions:
- After reading Polar Bear's Underwear, have your child design underwear for various animals.
- Practice letter recognition by asking your child to identify the letters that make up the word "underwear".  Then ask them to find the various letters in the book you are reading.


Notes
Story Time was not held on Monday this week as the library was closed in honor of Presidents Day.

Template for Monster --

Clothes Story Time: February 8-9, 2016

Books:
Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett *
Ducks Don't Wear Socks by John Nedwidek *
Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London *
Hello, Sun! by Dayle Ann Dodds
I Love My Hat by Douglas Florian

Craft: Valentine's Necklace
The kids colored a cardstock heart that had been hole-punched.  They then strung it onto curling ribbon along with some pony beads.

Literacy Extensions:
- After reading Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing, ask your child to come up with more animals and reasons for why they would not be able to wear clothes.
- Have your child practice picking out outfits.  Give them occasions (i.e. - holiday, party, season, etc.) and then have them pick out an outfit that would be appropriate.


Notes:
I use curling ribbon we're making necklaces as it is easier for the kids to string things onto.  The ribbon stays stiff so it is easier to string things on.  It is also thick enough that pony beads will not slide off once they are on the ribbon.

Naked! Story Time: February 1-2, 2016

Books:
Naked! by Michael Ian Black *
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems *
You Can't Go to School Naked! by Dianne Billstrom *

Craft: Naked Mole Rat Paper Doll
The children were given a cardstock cutout of a naked mole rat.  They then also got a sheet of "clothes" that could be colored and cut out to put onto their naked mole rat.  The craft came from the Mo Willems website at http://www.pigeonpresents.com/teachersguides/molerat_event_kit.pdf.

Literacy Activtities:
- After reading You Can't Go to School Naked, ask your child to come up with more reasons why you need to wear clothes.
- The Mo Willems website has several more great activities to go with Naked Mole Gets Dressed at http://www.pigeonpresents.com/teachersguides/molerat_event_kit.pdf.


Notes:
Naked! by Michael Ian Black was just awarded the Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award for 2015 as the favorite picture book as chosen by preschool children.