Preschool Story Time - Sheep Shenanigans

I love books with sheep in them, and there are TONS!  Last year I did an entire theme of counting sheep - all books referring to sleeping and sheep.  Except for my last book, each of these books talk about wool and sweaters.  Keeping Every Child Ready to Read in mind, these books are all written in rhyme, and the last book reinforced the 'ee' sound and rhyming.  I explained to the parents that children can recognize rhyme before they can make a rhyme, so they should start with asking if something rhymes before they have the child create a rhyme.

The Plan-

I have a new opening rhyme I tried!  This rhyme is by an unknown author.  When I read this rhyme for the first time, I sang it in my head loosely to the tune of Merry Old Land of Oz (Wizard of Oz) and it stuck, so that's my tune.

Touch Your Nose
Touch your nose. Touch your chin. That's the way this game begins.
Touch your eyes. Touch your knees. Now pretend you're going to sneeze (A-choo!).
Touch your hair.  Touch one ear.  Touch your two red lips right here.
Touch your elbow where it ends.  That's the way this touch game ends.

Woolbur- Leslie Helakoski

Woolbur is a free spirited lamb who cannot follow the flock.  "But isn't it GREAT?" Woolbur tells his parents.  This book is longish for preschool story time, but the kids really loved the refrain. A comical way to look at wool and the process of making yarn.

The Great Sheep Shenanigans - Peter Bentley

Wolf has a plan to have lamb for dinner, but Red's Gran and Rambo the Ram have other ideas.  Anytime you can say the word 'poo' or 'stinky' in story time, the kids are going to like it!


Peppered in between the books were our nursery rhyme felts.  If you missed my Flannel Friday post, click here for more about my Nursery Rhyme Sheep
With this set, I was able to do Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Bo Peep, and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

I was really surprised that some of the kids didn't know Mary Had a Little Lamb!  Usually my group knows nursery rhymes but I either had shy ones or they just don't get these rhymes at home.  I guess the lesson is to not assume that nursery rhymes are old news for the preschool kids.

Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep - Teri Sloat

It's spring and time for the sheep to be shorn, but the sheep want their wool back!  This book cleverly explains the process from shearing through sweaters.  The naked sheep really distracted the kids, but this book is hysterical.

Sheep in a Jeep- Nancy Shaw

This is very short and sweet but reinforces rhyming, and our craft was based on this book!  I had two kids tell me that this book was too short.  I guess after the last three books, it is, but I like to end on a quick one.

My craft was based on Shannon's Book Nook Blog.  She did something very similar, but I used A to Z Teacher Stuff Tools to create the bottom line of the sheet.  I left out the 'ee' in both words so the preschoolers could write that in and practice that sound with their parent.  My craft has little detail because I do not want the children to copy me.

Overall SUCCESS!  The kids loved the theme and sat perfectly for all 4 stories.  We ran almost 10 minutes over but they still wanted more.  Now I am ready to launch into our fall, then holiday story times.  It's going to be a busy fall!