Our Favorite Books 2013: December 30, 2013

Books:
Oliver and His Alligator by Paul Schmid *
Open Very Carefully: A Book with Bite by Nicola O'Byrne *
That Is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli *

Craft: Alligator
The craft we did is based on the picture to the left.  The template can be found at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/02/06/id-snap-at-the-chance-to-be-your-valentine/.  Ours was a little different in that we did a flat body instead of the pillow box body.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk with your child about how plants grow (i.e. The Watermelon Seed)
- Discuss with your child things that they are scared of and ways they might cope (i.e. Oliver and His Alligator)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 16-17, 2013

Books:
Bear and Bee by Sergio Ruzzier *
Bug Patrol by Denise Dowling Mortensen
Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein *
Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek
Ribbit! by Rodrigo Folgueira *

Craft: Dinosaur Coloring Book
The book was compiled of coloring pages from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/printouts/a.shtml.

Literacy Extensions:
- Ask your child to describe different animals.  See how the descriptions compare with other animals. (i.e. Bear and Bee)
- Talk about ways your child can try to make new friends (i.e. Ribbit!)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 9-10, 2013

Books:
Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett *
Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I Dare You NOT to Yawn by Helene Boudreau *
Warning: Do Not Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
Yoo-Hoo Ladybug! by Mem Fox

Craft:
This week's craft was inspired by the paperbag monkey costume found at http://www.bellebebes.co.uk/tag/owl/.  We did not use a paperbag but instead made a flat monkey head out of cardstock.  A face was printed onto half a sheet of cardstock.  Two circles were glued to the sides for the ears.  A craft stick was glued above the eyes for the eyebrow.

Literacy Extensions:
- Talk about the different types of sentences and how they change depending on the ending punctuation (i.e. Exclamation Point)
- Play a game of I Spy with your child focusing on colors and letters of the alphabet (i.e. Yoo-Hoo Ladybug!)

Our Favorite Books 2013: December 2-3, 2013

Books:
Crankee Doodle by Tom Angleberger
Lucky Ducklings by Eva Moore
Moo! by David LaRochelle *
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown *
Perfectly Percy by Paul Schmid *

Craft: Cow Puppet
Children colored a cow mask I found online and glued it to a jumbo craft stick to make into a puppet.  If they wanted to make it into a mask, they could cut out the eyes at home.

Literacy Extensions:
- Ask your child to convey different emotions while using the same word of phrase (i.e. Moo!)
- Discuss with your child how wild animals act differently from tame animals or people (i.e. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild)