Archive for February, 2007
February 28, 2007 at 3:15 pm
· Filed under preschool storytime
Hi preschooler parents! This week’s letter is the letter F. Help your child find objects around the house that start with the letter F, and then do a show and tell. Need some ideas? How about a footprint, a flower, or a folder?
Talk about how the letter F sounds, and how it looks. Then sing the alphabet song together. Read a book with your child, and look for words that have the letter F in them. Take a walk outside with the whole family and look for any flowers that might be popping up early. Your F craft is to make an alphabet book all about your child’s family. Decorate the cover of a blank notebook, and help your child write the title “My Family”. Together write the letters on the alphabet, one letter on each page of the notebook. Finally, pick one attribute about your family that starts with that letter of the alphabet, and illustrate the page with that attribute. For example, for the letter P there could be a picture of popcorn, because your family likes to eat popcorn and watch movies together. You could have your child draw the pictures, or you could go through old magazines and cut out appropriate pictures, and glue them in your book. Then print out the letter F homework and do it together. Have fun!
Isn’t the letter F fantastic?!
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February 21, 2007 at 4:37 pm
· Filed under book reviews--preschool
The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs
Lee loves jazz, and every night he played his piano at the jazz club, “yimba-timba-TANG-zang zang”. Then Lee begins to lose his hearing, and his music starts coming out wrong, “ronk. phip. tonk”. Fortunately, Lee finds a school for the deaf, where he learns sign language and sees new music in hands going “boo-bang-bing”. Lee finds other musicians at the school and they start a jazz band that plays on the subway. This is an amazing story about music–as a form of communication, as something that brings people together and creates friendships, as a way to feel good about yourself and others, as something that celebrates difference and yet is all-inclusive. The illustrations are perfect for the story, sharp and well, jazzy. People’s faces are done in colors like pink, purple, and orange, but this just further serves to lift the story beyond the everyday realm of black and white, and into another world entirely, one filled with music for everyone.
This book may be difficult for kids to grasp on the first read, but they will enjoy the language and the illustrations, and reading it together will give you the chance to open a positive discussion about difference, and differences, among people. So, give this one a chance, you will certainly be rewarded.
–Miss Tracey
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February 20, 2007 at 3:50 pm
· Filed under preschool storytime
Hi preschooler parents! This week’s letter is the letter G. Help your child find objects around the house that start with the letter G, and then do a show and tell. Need some ideas? How about a guitar, a gold crayon, or some gum?
Talk about how the letter G sounds, and how it looks. Then sing the alphabet song together. Read a book with your child, and look for words that have the letter G in them. Make gingerbread kids and decorate them together, either real ones or paper ones. Your G craft is messy but fun. Have your child make a pattern on a piece of construction paper using a bottle of Elmer’s glue. Place the paper in a shallow box, then sprinkle glitter all over the paper. The glitter will only stick to the glue pattern–how glamerous! Then print out the letter G homework and do it together. Have fun!
Isn’t the letter G great?!
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February 20, 2007 at 3:12 pm
· Filed under Book Reviews, book reviews--preschool, poetry Friday
Dear Bunny: A Bunny Love Story by Michaela Morgan
Valentino (Tino) and Valenteeny (Teeny) are two bunnies that, despite their names, need a little help reaching their “hoppily ever after”. Although they each think that the other is “lovely”, they are too shy to talk to each other. So, they decide to write letters, which they leave in a hollow log for the other to find. However, these letters are ill-fated–a family of mice shred the letters to use in their nest. When the bunnies begin to cry, the mice realize what they have done and decide to play cupid. They take the best parts of the letters and put them together into a masterpiece of sweet romance, which the bunnies read and realize that they were indeed meant for each other. Awww… The story makes for a wonderful read-aloud, with fun dialogue and vocabulary, and the illustrations are adorable. Be sure to check this one out!
–Miss Tracey
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February 13, 2007 at 9:28 pm
· Filed under Book Reviews, book reviews--preschool, book reviews--toddlers
Dinos in the Snow by Karma Wilson
A fun and quick read for all those snow and dinosaur lovers out there. All different kinds of dinos dressed in coats, hats, and mittens play in the snow and ride on their “dino-sleighs”. They have snowball fights, build snowmen and even ice skate through a fun winter day. The story is written in a rhyming, singsong-y verse, and the illustrations are colorful cartoons. Be sure to look for the Triceratops with his work coat on (“Stuck in the snow? Call Tricera-plow–and GO!”) and the “cretaceous creme donuts” .
–Miss Tracey
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February 13, 2007 at 9:19 pm
· Filed under Book Reviews, book reviews--preschool
Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
What does a boy do with a sad penguin? Take it home, of course. The little boy in this story finds a penguin on his doorstep, and decides that it must want to go home. The boy does lots of research and discovers that penguins live in the North Pole, so together they set off in a row boat. They float through “good weather and bad”, and there’s “lots of time for stories”. But once he drops off the penguin at the North Pole, the boy discovers his mistake–the penguin was looking for a friend, not home. Of course, they are reunited in the end, with hugs and happiness all around. This is a sweet yet poignant story of friendship that kids will enjoy hearing read aloud. The illustrations are simple and gently colorful, and portray the saddest penguin you will ever see. Be sure to check this one out!
–Miss Tracey
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February 13, 2007 at 8:54 pm
· Filed under preschool storytime
Hi preschooler parents! This week’s letter is the letter W. Help your child find objects around the house that start with the letter W, and then do a show and tell. Need some ideas? How about a wagon, some water, or a wheel?
Talk about how the letter W sounds, and how it looks. Then sing the alphabet song together. Read a book with your child, and look for words that have the letter W in them. Don’t forget to go out and play in the winter weather. Your W craft is to paint using toy car wheels. Then print out the letter W homework and do it together. Have fun!
Isn’t the letter W wonderful?!
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February 9, 2007 at 9:05 pm
· Filed under book reviews--preschool, book reviews--toddlers, poetry Friday
It’s Friday!
Handsprings by Douglas Florian
These poems are all about spring, so what a perfect choice for these long winter months. And these poems are short and simple, with lots of rhymes, which makes them a perfect poetry readaloud for the younger set. The illustrations are small, and in subdued colors, but provide a nice, light touch of humor. All the tradional aspects of spring are covered here, from baseball, rainy days, spring cleaning, to playing in the mud, bugs, flowers, and more, and in ways that even younger readers will be able to relate to. So, if you and your child “love leaves, and flowers, and daydreaming for hours,” this is a great book for your poetry Friday.
–Miss Tracey
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February 7, 2007 at 7:50 pm
· Filed under early literacy, parent stuff, storytime
Early literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Early literacy skills are the building blocks for later reading and writing. You may be wondering just how early literacy techniques are being incorporated into storytime. Over the span of several entries, I will give you some examples.
Example #1: When you first enter the room for storytime, you and your child have a few minutes to read board books together. Just this simple exposure to reading is very important–it allows children to begin to understand the function of words and pictures in books. On an even simpler level, this activity helps kids to understand that we read a book from top to bottom and left to right, as well as how to turn the pages.
Example #2: We sings lots of songs during toddler tales. Songs help develop phonological awareness, or the ability to hear and manipulate the smaller sounds in words, one of the building blocks of learning to read. Songs help kids hear words broken down into smaller sounds, or syllables, because there is usually a different note for each syllable. Hence, by singing, kids are learning to break down words into parts, a skill that will greatly help them with reading.
Of course, the most important thing about storytime is that we have fun! Stay tuned for more ways that early literacy techniques are being worked into storytime.
–Miss Tracey
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February 6, 2007 at 6:25 pm
· Filed under Book Reviews, book reviews--preschool, book reviews--toddlers
Stranger in the Woods by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick
Featuring stunning winter photography, this book is a great opportunity for your family to take a walk in the winter woods without ever leaving your home. Kids will also enjoy seeing the photos of animals in their natural habitats, including birds, muskrats, mice, deer, and even porcupines. The story itself is a little long for young readers and listeners, but the photography is so fantastic that you could make up your own family story to go along with the illustrations. Be sure to check this one out!
–Miss Tracey
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