Polar Bears Story Time: January 27-28, 2020

Books:
Hush Little Polar Bear by Jeff Mack
The Lonesome Polar Bear by Jane Cabrera
No Place Like Home by Ronojoy Ghosh *
Polar Bear Morning by Lauren Thompson
Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson *
Polar Bear's Underwear by Tupera Tupera *
A Splendid Friend, Indeed by Suzanne Bloom

Craft: Polar Bear Picture
The children ripped strips of blue, green, purple, and pink paper into squares.  They then glued them onto a piece of paper with a polar bear on the center.  They glued the pieces around the polar bear leaving the bear white.

Extension Activities:
- When doing the craft, have your child rip the paper themselves.  This is a great activity for working on gross motor skills.
- When reading Polar Bear's Underwear, have your child guess whose underwear it is before turning the page.  Use the clues given with the underwear's imagery to help them figure it out.


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Otters Story Time: January 21, 2020

Books:
Otter Out of Water by Kathy-Jo Wargin *
Stop Snoring Bernard by Zachariah Ohora *

Craft: Otter Puppet
This week's craft is pictured at left.  The kids colored a baby otter cutout, an otter face, and four paws before gluing all pieces to a brown paper bag to turn into a puppet.




Extension Activities:
- Stop Snoring Bernard uses snoring sound effects throughout the story.  Ask your child to participate with the reading by providing the sound effects.  Incorporate other sounds effects as appropriate.
- Otters love to swim and play in the water.  Take a winter field trip to an indoor swimming pool.


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Penguins Story Time: January 13-14, 2020

Books:
Baby Penguins Everywhere! by Melissa Guion
If You Were a Penguin by Wendell Minor *
Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups by Tadgh Bentley *
A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
Waddle! Waddle! by James Proimos *

Craft: Folded Penguin
Kids colored a penguin face/belly before gluing it to a larger blue circle to make the penguin body.  They could then glue on a strip of orange paper for a scarf if they liked.  The sides of the circles were then folded in to make the penguin's wings.  (Note: If you want a chubby penguin, don't fold in the wings.)

Extension Activities:
- Practice letter recognition by asking your child to point out all the letter "P"s on the page as you are reading.
- Visit the Penguin and Puffin House at the zoo.


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Animals in Winter Story Time: January 6-7, 2020

Books:
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
First Snow by Bernette Ford
Moon Glowing by Elizabeth Partridge
Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep! by Maureen Wright *
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit by Il Sung Na *
When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan *

Craft: Winter Animals Picture
The kids colored a winter animals coloring sheet.  They then glued on snowflake sequins.

Extension Activities:
- Add some interaction into your reading of stories.  Ask your child what they think will happen on the next page.  Ask them to find items in the pictures as you read.
- Take a nature walk in the winter.  See what animals, plants, etc. you can spot on your walk.  Discuss with your child how things look different on winter walks vs. summer walks.