Hippo Story Time: February 24-25, 2020

Books:
The Hiccupotamus by Aaron Zenz
Hippos Are Huge! by Jonathan London
Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton *
Kiss Kiss! by Margaret Wild
Oh, Daddy! by Bob Shea *
That's What Makes a Hippopotamus Smile! by Sean Taylor *

Craft: H Is for Hippo
This week's craft was based on the picture at left.  The children colored an uppercase H cutout as well as a hippo head.  They then glued the head to the H.  They could bend the legs to make the hippo stand.

Extension Activities:
- Hippos Go Berserk is a counting book.  Ask your child to count how many hippos are on each page as you go through the book.
- Practice letter recognition by asking your child to point out the letter "H"s as you go through a book.


Template --

Horse Story Time: February 18, 2020

Books:
Are You a Horse? by Andy Rash *
Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee *
A Horse Named Jack by Linda Vander Heyden *
A Horse Named Steve by Kelly Collier
Horseplay! by Karma Wilson

Craft: Horse Puzzle
The kids colored a cardstock coloring sheet of a horse.  Then with adult permission they could borrow a pair of scissors to cut along "scissor practice" lines on the back of the sheet to make a 6 piece puzzle.

Extension Activities:
- Instead of doing a straight reading of Are You a Horse, have your child do some of the "reading".  Ask them to identify the animals and what makes them not a horse.
- We did scissor practice with our craft this week.  If your child is not ready for cutting on lines, just ask them to make a "fringe" around the paper.  If they are more advanced, draw lines on a paper and have them follow the lines while cutting.


Template -- (copy double-sided onto cardstock)

Hugs Story Time: February 10-11, 2020

Books:

How Do You Hug a Porcupine by Laurie Isop *
Hug Machine by Scott Campbell *
Hug Me by Simona Ciraolo
Hugless Douglas by David Melling *
Hugs from Pearl by Paul Schmid
Sloppy Wants a Hug by Sean Julian
Wally Wants to Hug by Barbara Joosse

Craft: Paper Hug
This week's craft is based on the above picture.  Children were given a large cardstock heart and two small cardstock hearts to color.  They glued paper strips to the large heard for arms.  The little hearts were glued on the ends of the paper strips for hands.

Extension Activities:
- After reading Hugless Douglas, have a discussion about what makes hugs feel good (i.e. tight, soft, cuddly, etc.).
- Make several paper hugs to hand out to people.  Maybe visit a nursing home or older neighbors/friends who would enjoy a paper hug from a child.

Hat Story Time: February 3-4, 2020

Books:
Hooray for Hat! by Brian Won
The Magic Hat by Mem Fox *
Milo's Hat Trick by Jon Agee
Old Hat by Emily Gravett *
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Which Hat Is That? by Anna Grossnickle Hines *

Craft: Hat
This week's craft is based on the picture above.  The kids were given half a paper plate to decorate with crayons, paper pieces, and sequins.  They then glued on strips of paper in a ring to the back to make it into a hat they could wear.

Extension Activities:
- This Is Not My Hat is about stealing.  Have a discussion with your child about the reasons why we should not take something that is not ours.
- Ask your child to find the hats you have in your house.  Then ask them to sort them by color, size, etc.