The Read Abouts: October

Halloween (of course!)

Read: Who Will I Be? A Halloween Rebus Story by Shirley Neitzel

Craft: Halloween Jar Luminaries

I have done this craft loads of times. Very easy, fun and a great decoration! You can make a ghost or a bat, Frankenstein, Dracula.....the options are endless. I usually adapt it for my Preschool set -- for example, we only make ghosts and everything is cut out and ready for them to glue/decoupage. For this crowd, I am going to let them do all the work!!! Yay!

• Need: Glass jars, tissue paper in various colors, white glue, foam brushes, and scissors.
• Lay out all the tissue paper on the craft table. And have them decide on their design.
• Explain and show them the decoupage technique. Glue the tissue paper, base color etc, less is more.....
• For a ghost: tear or cut strips of white tissue paper, decoupage the strips all over the outside of the jar, cut out eyes and mouth from black tissue paper and adhere on top of the white.
• Give each child some votive candles -- because you know they are going to want to see the result as soon as they get home!

Here are some of our finished products:

OK, can you tell which one I was asked to help with? He wanted a skeleton and instructed me on how the skeleton should be drawn!!! No abstract idea of a skeleton, he wanted the literal translation. I showed them a bunch of diagrams of how to make a Ghost, Vampire, Monster....and then the girls asked for pink tissue paper.....the rest is history...

Burnham Bunch: Halloween Party

Halloween Week 2

Read: The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills and Ten Timid Ghost by Jennifer O'Connell.

Storyboard: Using Spooky Wheels have children stick story-pieces on the board as the book progress

No craft: Halloween Party! Woo Hoo! Lots of treats.....and no tricks!!



The ever popular train table....



All I wanted to do was squeeze his little Monkey belly...

I was told "I'm a construction worker" about 10 times.
Well, the hat, tool belt, shorts and workboots did not give you away! heheh

Queen Cecilia and Saint Isabel (yes, really!!)

The whole Thursday gang

Little bit of Halloween music = preschool dance par-tay...



How cute is this.....



Burnham Bunch: Ghosts

Halloween Week 1 : Ghosts

Read: There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro

Storyboard: Using the above book, have children place story-pieces on our Old Lady's apron as the book progresses.

Thursday Craft: Milk jug ghosts

• Hopefully I will collect enough milk jugs (with caps!!!), white paint, black craft paper, and glue dots.
• Prior to storytime, cut black craft paper into eyes and mouth shapes and adhere glue dots. Paint the caps white using acrylic paint -- and let dry. Oh, and by the way getting the labels off is tricky! But, with much patience and a little bit of hot water -- you are good to go!
• Squeeze some paint into the jug, before setting on craft table.
• Instruct children to shake their milk jugs until the entire inside is painted white.
• When they are satisfied with the result. Stick-on eyes and mouth shape.

Wednesday Craft: Sticky Paper Ghosts (No Time for Flash Cards)

Well, I didn't collect enough milk jugs. So, I had to improvise. I saw this simple and easy ghost project on my NTFFC. We have a few wee ones for our Wednesday session, so I thought I would save the milk jugs for Thursday.

• Need sticky-back paper, black craft paper, white tissue paper and sticker eyes.
• Prior to storytime, cut sticky-back paper into 8 inch wide pieces. Draw ghosts onto squares of black paper, cut out the inside, which will leave you with a "frame" Adhere the frame to the sticky-back paper and layout for children. (I used the inside to cut the eyes and mouths for the Wednesday ghosts)
• Instruct children to cover their entire inside of the ghost frame with tissue paper.
• When they are finished, flip over and have them adhere the sticker eyes.
• Trim around the frame for the finished product.
• Thank you again No Time for Flash Cards! (Ummm, Have I mentioned how much I LOVE you?)

Spooky Ghost -- Ohhhh!



Our "Old Lady" Story board





Burnham Bunch: Pumpkins

Pumpkins

Read: Pumply Dumply Pumpkin by May Serfozo and Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

Storyboard: Field of Pumpkins poem

Five little pumpkins

Let's go explore

I picked one

And that left four

(and etc ..... counting down from five to zero)

Craft: Jack-o-lantern Stencil Painting (No Time for Flashcards)

• Need: Foam paint rollers (yay, we are finally utilizing these awesome rollers I bought from Discount School Supples), orange craft paper, black paint and jack-o-lantern stencils.
• Prior to storytime, cut out two pumpkin stencil per child.
• Lay out orange paper with stencil on top. Let them "have at it" and paint the entire paper....
• Carefully peel stencil off ... and Voila!

 

No Time for Flash Cards

The children loved this...loved the rollers..loved the result...LOVE LOVE LOVED!

Burnham Bunch: Owls

Owls

Read: Little Lost Owl by Chris Haughton and Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood.

Story extender/ Story board: Using Wow! Said the Owl display color-appropriate story-pieces as the story progress. Give children the chance to "shout" the color that coordinates with the text.

Craft: Owls

• Need: Construction paper owl-parts cut from various colors. Glue sticks.
• Prior to storytime, have your wonderful assistant cut many many many owl-parts shapes out of paper (thanks, Susan!). For example, we had blue circles, purple half-circles, yellow rectangles, "sunny-side-up" eggs shapes, and orange and pink triangles. (see finished product below)
• Children will then paste together their an owl using all the colored owl-parts.
• As we constructed our owls, I prompted the children to find their blue circles and glue them to their owl body, find the pink triangles and glue and etc.



Shape and color owl -- Whoo Whoo!



Oh, my friend Shelley is going to LOVE this craft. She is a super-big fan of owls, as is my cousin Michelle. I bought them both the above book Little Lost Owl, because it is my FAV! book of the season. Love the illustrations and the simple story. When reading aloud you can totally expand on the story and interact with the children. And, it gives you a great chance to use your story-voices.