Burnham Bunch: Fall

It's Fall Again!!

Read: Let It Fall by Maryann Cocca-Leffler and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves! by Lucille Colandro

Flannel board: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Leaves. Using the story to prompt the kiddos to place flannel pieces on our Old Lady's apron as the story progresses. I LOVE these books. I use them for almost every season/holiday. I have an Old Lady flannel figure and for each book, I change up the pieces. I simply copy the pages, color, laminate, and apply a Velcro-dot. I make as many pieces as needed for every child to have a turn. So, for this story I had to copy out and extra 2 leaf bushels and an extra 1 hay bushel.

Craft: Fall Tree

• Need: Poster paint in brown, green, yellow and orange. Paper plates. Sturdy construction paper for background and brown for tree trunk. Sponges and/or foam stamper.
• Prior to story, I cut a tree trunk shape out of the brown paper and glued it to the background paper.
• Lay out the tree shape at each craft seat along with paper-plate of paint and sponges. I bought a few sponge and cut it into squares for the older children. For the little ones, I gave them foam stampers because they have little wooden handles which make it easier to hold.
• Show the kiddos how stamp their sponges into the paint and then onto the paper. As you fill your paper, show them how you create different colors and shades as you layer one color on top of the other.
• Really fun. Easy. And very little clean-up. The end....

Burnham Bunch: Welcome Back 2011

Burnham Bunch 2011

We're Back! So, I am just returning from a two-week (that's right!!!) vacation. And I am trying to get into storytime mode, but it is really difficult! I like to begin the new storytime year with a library/book theme. I found our book choice via another storytime blog and thought it would be fun to try it out. I also decided to incorporate a song from the author's website to get us in the mood!

I have a few new faces this session. So, I am hoping that the singing (and animal sounds that go with the book and the song) will "break the ice."

My friend Shelley made the suggestion to add a photo of the book we are reading to my blog. I will try to do this in the future!?

So, here we go! Burnham Bunch Fall/Winter 2011 begins now ......

Begin with our Welcome Song

Introduce our animal flannels: pig, goat, horse, hen, duck, cow and frog. We will sing Sing A Song.

Read: Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss using our animal flannels to prompt the children to neigh, oink and etc.

Craft: I think I "cheezed-out" on the craft for this one. But, it is hard to gage the attention level of a new group of kiddos. So, I decided that they will make bookmarks. I put out a ton of stickers and let them go for it.

• Need bookmark template (I just used a bit of clip-art and wrote each child's name on the bookmark), crayons, stickers and a bit of ribbon/yarn.
• After they have completed decorating their bookmark, my faithful assistant will laminate them and punch a hole for a bit of yarn.
• That's it!

Well, as is usual, the less complicated the better! The kiddos loved choosing, peeling and applying their stickers. Because of time constraints, we decided to laminate them and hand them out week. But, in the end a success. Now for next week .......

Getting Ready!

School Year 2011-2012

I can't believe that we are already wrapping up Summer Reading 2011! We had a great summer and I hope the kiddos did as well! Now we are beginning to prepare for the next school year. Burnham Bunch Storytime will again be held on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting September 14th and 15th. The Fall/Winter session will run from September to December. Registration will begin August 10th and continue until the session is full. I can already feel the crisp fall air!!

See you in September!

Summer Bunch: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

Read: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Craft: Watercolor painting

I traced the little tot's face from I Aint Gonna Paint No More! and copied onto copy paper. One copy per little artist. Their concentration could be felt in the room!! Ha! They were so cute....

Summer Bunch: Safari

Going on a Safari!

Read: Way Far Away on a Wild Safari by Jan Peck

Activity: Animal Safari Scavenger Hunt.

I was inspired to try this idea by a blog I found via Pinterest. (If you do not know about Pinterest, beware! It is awesome and it will take over your life!!) Anyway, this blogger is a party planner and her ideas are so cool. She actually inspired us to be super-creative for our Multi-Cultural Food Fest that we had last week (check out our pics here). Check her out at apartystyle.com.

Anywho, she used blow-up animals. Due to budgetary constraints, I had to go low-rent. I had some photos a patron had given us and cut and labeled each photo. I posted the pictures around the Children's Library (and maybe one or two outside if the weather is nice). As a team, parent and child(ren) was given a check-list (see pictures). After they completed their task, each child was given baggie of animal cracker cookies!!!

That is it... One more week of Summer Bunch!! Now I am off to Maine with my bestie for the weekend! Woot Hoot!

Summer Bunch: Ocean

Oceans and Beach

Read: The Beach Ball by David Steinberg and Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

Craft: Jellyfish inspired by scrapbooksetc.com

Jellyfish by scrapbooketc.com

• Need: Paper bowls, eyeball stickers, various colored ribbons tied in a "pony-tail" (I used gift-wrap curly ribbon), various colors tissue paper, white glue and sponge brushes.
• Prior to storytime, have your wonderful summer assistant tie strips of curly ribbon into "pony-tails." One ribbon-tail per child.
• Layout bowl, sponge brush, largish pieces of tissue paper and sticker eyes at each craft seat.
• Have kiddos "paint" the bowl with white glue. Then they can place the tissue paper on top of the glue and smooth down. Then stick on the eyes.
• When children have completed the tasks, securely tape the ribbon-tails to the inside of the bowl.
• Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Summer Bunch: Llama, Llama

Llama, Llama

 

Read: Llama, Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney and Is Your Mama a Llama by Deborah Guarino.

 

Craft: L is for Llama from Ms. Hegna's Story Room

• My fabulous summer assistant copied and cut-out the llama pieces provided by Ms. Hegna's Story Room.
• Prior to storytime, we set out one piece of construction paper and a set of llama pieces at each craft seat. (oh, and one sticker eyeball) We also set a pile of tan yarn in the middle of each craft table. I also wrote L is for Llama on each of the pieces of construction paper.
• We instructed the children to glue the various pieces together in order to create a llama.
• Then they glued bits of yarn to the llama.
• That is about it! Thanks to Ms. Hegna's Story Room for the great idea!

 

Llama

 

 

I loved how most of the children thought the Llama's ear was his neck! Hehe