Preschool Story Time - The Letter of the Month is C

Moving on from the letter B, we come to a challenge.  The letter C.  Hmmmm.  Two natural sounds - that sound like other letters.  Combine C with a 'friend' for a whole new sound.  This was a very difficult thing for everyone to process.  I might have stuck with a hard C and not tried to introduce so much information.  Here's what we did:  First up we always do our Mail Call.  Here's my original post on the Mailbag with letters.

Our mailbag offerings for this month include  5 envelopes with various C words.  This month it was the letter C, a cat, a cow, a coat, and our Animal in Underwear (Todd Parr): Chick.  Chick started off our way-too-lengthy discussion of the weird C sounds.  Again, I think I should have stuck with the hard C sound.

Then we sang our usual "Letter of the Month" song to the tune of Old MacDonald:
Our librarian has a book - E-I-E-I-O
And in that book there were some Cs - E-I-E-I-O
With a cuh, cuh, here and a cuh, cuh, there.
Here a cuh, there a cuh, everywhere a cuh, cuh
Our librarian has a book - E-I-E-I-O

(and then we repeated with the soft C sound.  I accompany them on ukulele)

Then it was on to the books!

Aside from the fact that no one knows what a typewriter is anymore, this one was a hit and got a lot of laughs.  I used to read this one to preschoolers years ago, but this was the first time I did it in my story time.  Sadly, this book might need to be updated to "Laptop."

We paused for some C songs here.  This is to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel

Round and round the paper I go.  What fun to go around like so.
What have I made, do you know?  I made a circle.

This one is to the tune of Row, Row, your boat:

Drive, drive, drive your car safely down the street!
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, don't for get to beep (BEEP BEEP!).

Easy little song but the kids enjoyed pretending to drive and honk. Don't forget to go BIG on your motions!

Last minute switch, but a good one!  Each animal gets their due feed, but the cow loves cookies!  Why does the cow love cookies so much?  Another good one for story time.

After halftime, it was time for my Flannel Story!

I pulled out my Pete the Cat felt board for today!  I actually have two sets of Pete to go with this book.  One has standing Pete - like this book, and one has sitting Pete, which uses only 2 shoes per color.  I have the standing Pete for larger crowds because 16 shoes is better than 8 when your numbers are larger. My Versatile Pete posts are HERE and HERE for more about how I do Pete's other stories.
Everyone loves Pete the Cat - so this was a very easy one to do.  It takes a long time to get through though, so be ready for lots of pauses for costume changes on Pete!

Happy Anniversary to The Very Hungry Caterpillar!!!  I won't tell you which one of us is older, but it's a pretty close call.  Everyone loves this book. I did the pop-up version today which was stunning for the kids to see.  Lots of Oooohs and Aaaaahs.  A warning!  Like Kristen says in her Baby Story Time, this one is harder to read in a crowd because everything opens up at funny angles and it's hard to read along.  Be creative!


I was torn between two books at this point, as we were over time.  I wanted to read Chicken Little by Ed and Kimberly Emberley, but since I had no more time, I went with Cookie Count because it was pretty to look at.

Not really a great story time book, but since it was a pop up, it was fascinating.

And the craft today - Well, the letter of the Month is C!!  So, C is for caterpillar.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar at that.

This craft was a big hit with the kids.  They drew a C on their paper, and then they would do a pattern or all one color or just randomness with the greens.  Owning a circle punch in several sizes is one of the best bits of advice I can offer.  It makes craft prep so much easier!

I won't get to see this project through to Z, as I only have three story times left.  I hope I have passed on some great tips on how to do a Letter of the Month story time at your library.  Just have fun with it.  The kids will be in school soon enough.  Some will already know their letters and sounds, and some won't.  No matter, make story time fun, and the leaning will just happen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Preschool Story Time - Letter of the Month is B

In our continuing series, this month we move on to the letter B!

We start with our mail bag with our 5 envelopes.  This month they held a banana, balloon, bat (in underwear), bike, and the letter B.  I love doing this activity and so do the kids.  Everyone wants to know what is in the mail bag.

Then we sang (with me on ukulele) Our Librarian has a Book, (to the tune of Old MacDonald).
Our Librarian has a book, E-I-E-I-O
And in that book there were some Bs, E-I-E-I-O.
With a B(uh) B(uh) here.....you get the idea.

Early literacy tip alert: The letter B sound is a puff of air (like P) and you can't and shouldn't drag it out (like mmmmmmm).  So when teaching the letter sound, don't be a sheep....its not baaaaaa or buuuuuuh. Make it short and sweet!

We prefaced each book with the question, "Now WHY would Miss Sue be reading THIS book today?" They quickly would respond something like "Because BANANA starts with B!" YES!

Darling Book!!  Isabel is tired of not being allowed a balloon because they are dangerous for porcupines.  Can she figure out a way to play with one safely before Graduation Day?

Check out my felt set!  Squee!  This is for a quick limerick by Edward Lear:
There was an old man with a beard
Who said, "This is just as I feared!
Two owls, a hen, four larks, and a wren
Have all made their nest in my beard!"

I start with my Old Man:

And one by one, pull the birds (Beard and Birds start with B!!) out of the little pockets I made in his beard.

I think this one was more for the moms than the kids because the moms were giggling and the kids all thought I was nuts.  But I couldn't resist this little poem for B week, so there it is. 

Sloppy, lazy mouse thinks it is funny to throw his used banana peels all over the jungle, until all of the animals start slipping on them!  Can they convince mouse that it's not cool to leave trash all over the jungle floor?

After halftime, we settled back with a rhyme.  I have an old school felt set for Little Boy Blue, so we looked at that, and recited it together:
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
But where is the little boy who tends to the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.

I like using Mother Goose rhymes in story time because they are familiar, rhythmical, and rhyming.  The kids also feel special that they already know some of the materials I am using.  Technically for B week, I could use Baa Baa Black Sheep too - but I chose Little Boy Blue.

Bear would like some honey, but he is afraid of Bee.  Bear's misconceptions about what a Bee is like keeps him from a very fruitful friendship.

I really like the rhymes and visuals in this book.  Written like a chant, these book explores all kinds of bugs!  This busy book would be great to explore further one-on-one.

And my craft:  This was taken from another blogger Miss Maren's Monkeys (includes a template!)
I didn't add bee stripes because I wanted to leave room for the kids to add any decoration to the bee that they wanted.  Some copied me, some made stripes, and some went bananas with a purple crayon.  It's all good!!

Thanks for stopping by!  I already can't wait for the letter C story time.  These letter story times have been so far, very well received!

Preschool Story Time- Letter of the Month is A

I decided to start something new in my story time this month. I thought I would try to do something that would bring my story times together, allowing me to bring back some favorite stories, flannel boards, and songs. So, I decided to start a 'Letter of the Month' story time for the first week of every month to see how it goes.  I might stop this by summer, but it will be a great exercise.

Check out my mailbag. I made it myself with fleece, felt, and a lot of hot-glue (See my Flannel Friday Post about this bag).  I also made lots of felt envelopes to use with it.  We introduce story time with the mailbag and wonder what 'letter' is inside it for us!  I will call up volunteers to peek inside the envelopes and tell me what is inside.  Today we had the letter A and 4 items that begin with A....Ant, Astronaut, Alligator, Apple (my Ant isn't in the photo).


Thanks to Kay Leigh for sharing her idea to felt the Animals in this book: Animals in Underwear by Todd Parr.  I literally ran out to the store, bought the book, and felted all of the animals that weekend.  Now I get to introduce the book and share a new animal in their underwear every week!  Yay!

Here are some of my animals...Squee!!!

After our mailbag offerings, I sang a new song with my ukulele.  I played Old MacDonald Had a Farm with these lyrics:
Our Librarian has a book - E-I-E-I-O
And in that book there were some As - E-I-E-I-O
With an A - A - here and an A-A there, here an A, there an A, everywhere an A-A
Our Librarian has a book - E-I-E-I-O
(for this letter, we repeated this verse with long and short A sounds)

For our Every Child Ready to Read fans, we talked about pointing to letters in books, starting with the first letter in their name, to get children excited about reading.  Simple repetition of pointing to the A and letting them feel successful, makes them excited of learning.  Songs like the one above are familiar, yet teaches sounds in a fun new way....just like they learned animal sounds with that song, they learn alphabet sounds.


Our first book was The Very Boring Alligator by Jean Gralley.

The alligator JUST WON'T GO!  This book shows kids how to take control of playtime and get rid of anything standing in the way of their fun.

Then we did the AlphaGator Poem.  Not sure who to credit for the poem, but my Alligator is made with scrapbook paper and a felt belly so the letters can stick while I read the poem.   The kids liked this!

Once there was an Alpha-Gator

Who absolutely adored the alphabet.

He ate the letters and had sweet

Alphabet dreams all night long.

On Monday, he ate the letters ABCDEF.

Then he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

But the pointy part of the A kept poking him in his tummy.

And he couldn’t sleep a wink all night long!

On Tuesday, he ate the letters GHIJK.

Then he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

But H and I made a word and said it over and over- HI, HI, HI!

And he couldn’t sleep a wink all night long!

On Wednesday, he ate the letters LMNOP.

Then he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

But the O kept rolling back and forth in his tummy-

And he couldn’t sleep a wink all night long!

On Thursday, he ate the letters QRSTUV.

Then he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

But the S kept saying SSSSS and playing snake in his tummy

And he couldn’t sleep a wink all night long!

On Friday, he ate the letters WXYZ.

Then he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

And he dreamed sweet Z’s all night.

Then the Ant and the Grasshopper fable retold by Mark White.  The kids decided this ant was too mean, and they would have helped their neighbor.  There were some strong opinions here - the moms even said that the Ant should have seen it coming and had a talk with the grasshopper sooner.  Wow.  I guess the discussion was a good thing on this one, but it cracks me up too that it was such a hot issue.  After all, it IS a fable with a moral to it.


After halftime and our usual Popcorn Dance, I told the story called That Apple is Mine by Katya Arnold.

You'll have to see my FLANNEL FRIDAY POST about this Story board set I made last fall.  This story is a hit every time I tell it.  There is a surprise ending that the parents really enjoy too.


Finally Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett.

Another book that delighted both the kids and parents.  What would happen if Animals DID wear clothing?  Funny book!

My craft was an Alligator made from the letter A.

And THAT'S the Letter of the Month!!  We had a really great story time this week and I am already looking forward to the next one! Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for stopping by!  

Flannel Friday - Mail Call!

OK.  Sometimes I see something on Pinterest, and I have to have it.  Usually it is a felt set, or a recipe, or a story time theme.  This time it was a mail bag.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250372060507885851/

GASP!  As soon as I saw it, I thought of Valentine's Day!  You could do the 6 Little Valentines rhyme with this, or come up with a "What could be in this letter?" kind of activity.  But WAIT!  I had another idea! So, I got out some fabric and a glue gun and had at it!  It might not be as pretty as the one above because I didn't use any stitching, but mine is still functional.

OK, I made mine with fleece for the bag and the rest is felt.  To make the bag, I hot-glued a piece of felt to the fleece and cut a large enough rectangle around the felt.  The felt helps to give the bag some shape.  Then I put a book in the felt and folded up the sides and glued them well to make a panel on either side of the bag.   The long remaining end flaps over to make the flap you put the word MAIL on.  The strap is just a long piece of fleece folded in half and hot glued for shape.  The envelopes are just felt cut to that shape, and glued up the sides.



At my new branch, I inherited one extra story time per week.  So I thought I would use that week of the month as The Letter of the Month theme!  I made a bunch of envelopes and plan to have the letter of the day plus something that begins with that letter in each envelope. I will invite the children to come up and see what is in the mailbag today - they loved this part.  Then we will read stories, have rhymes, and a craft based on that letter.  I think it will bring a level of fun to the story time.


Check our labels and search for the Letter of the Month story times.  I did my first one this week and will blog on it over the weekend!



Thanks to Christine at Felt Board Stories for hosting this week's Flannel Friday!  If you like to learn more about Flannel Friday, Click HERE.   ALSO, Thank YOU for stopping by!