Burnham Bunch: Halloween Part 1

Halloween Part 1: Ghosts

Read: Just Say Boo by Susan Hood and The Witch's Hat by Tony Johnston

Story prop: The Witch's Hat

I downloaded pics of rats, cats, bats and a white toad -- we printed and laminated them. I wore a witches hat and used a plastic caldron ....

Craft: Ghosts

Need: Sticky-back paper, (we ran out of sticky-back paper, and I DID NOT want to go to another craft store, so we improvised) white tissue paper, white and black craft paper and glue sticks

• Prior to storytime, I traced a ghost shape onto the white craft paper. Then I cut the middle of the ghost to make a ghost-frame.
• We cut black circles for eyes, black craft paper, and a bunch of tissue paper squares.
• At storytime, Miss Susan glued the ghost frame on each piece of black paper.
• I instruced the kiddos, to "color" the inside with their glue stick. And then stick on their tissue paper.
• Done! Super-spooooooooky!

I still can not figure out how to rotate an image!!!!

Burnham Bunch: Pumpkins

Pumpkins

Read: It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall and Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris

Flannel board: Jack-o-Lantern from Rain Makes Applesauce

Craft: Pumpkin Playdough and playing mat

Need: Playdough recipe, orange paper and laminator and laminating sheets.

• Prior to storytime, I made the playdough and divided it into individual Ziplock baggies. Susan cut-out and laminated pumpkin shapes into a rectangular mat.
• At storytime, I placed a baggie and playing mat at each craft seat ... and let them explore. I included baskets with cookie cutters and other materials to manipulate the dough.
• That is it!

Burnham Bunch: Owls

Owls (repeated from October 2011)

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

Flannel board: 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.

Burnham Bunch: Football

Touchdown!

Read: Football and Falling Leaves: A Fall Counting Book by Rebecca Fjelland Davis and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

Flannel board: Football and Fall -- Countdown 1 to 10

Craft: Football inspired by No Time For Flash Cards

Need: Brown and white craft paper, glue sticks, brown crayons, stapler and newspaper.

• Prior to storytime, cut out football shape -- 2 per child -- and staple 2 together. Leave an opening at the end, in order to fill with the newsprint. Cut white trim pieces. Use paper cutter to cut strips of newsprint. After Wednesday's session, I realized it was difficult for the kids to position the white trim pieces. So, for Thursday's class, I marked each place with a marker.
• At each craft seat, place all the supplies (minus the glue stick -- this new group LOVE the glue sticks, so I need to keep them hidden until it is time to glue).
• First they colored their football. Then I asked them to glue the trim pieces on.
• Last step for the kiddos, is to crumple the newsprint and fill their football.
• We stapled it up ... and it is time for Kick-off!!

Burnham Library: Apples

Apples

Read: Apple Harvest by Calvin Harris and Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Flannel board:

(To the tune of This Old Man)

Way up high, in a tree
(Ten) red apples smiled at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
Down came the apples
Mmm mmmm, good.

Craft: Red Confetti Apples

Need: Craft paper in red and white, hole punch, glue sticks and green crayon.

• Prior to storytime, I used my super-hero strength to hole-punch a zillion red dot confetti from red craft paper. I copied-off a bunch of "worksheets" with "A is for Apple" and an apple shape.
• When the craft began, I first asked the kiddos to color the leaf green. 
• I instructed them to very carefully "color" the inside of the apple with their glue stick.
• Then sprinkled their confetti onto the apple and patted down the confetti to make it stick. (I shook off the surplus to use for the next craft)
• That's about it!

I bought and sliced some apples for the kiddos to share. I also sliced two apples in half: one to reveal the "star" inside and the other to reveal the core. We talked a bit about the differences between the two as they enjoyed their apple snack.