The Read Abouts: November

Thanksgiving

Read: Thanksgiving Rules by Laurie Friedman and The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing

Craft: Turkey Place Markers (from FamilyFun.com)

Need: Way to many things for me to write...So, check out the Family Fun link above....

This is a really cute and easy craft. If you make them at home, you can create one for each family member attending Thanksgiving dinner. We are going to have each child make one....with a Happy Thanksgiving clipped in the clothes pin.






 





Burnham Bunch: Thanksgiving Turkeys

Thanksgiving

Read: What is Thanksgiving by Harriet Ziefert and Gobble Gobble Crash by Julie Stiegemeyer

Craft: Playdough Turkeys (Just Deanna)

• Need playdough (recipe here), feathers, beaks, eyes and orange pipe-cleaner feet
• Prior to storytime make the above playdough recipe....Just love storytime "homework"
• Give each child a wad of playdough on a paper plate. (helps for transporting it home)
• Instruct them to roll it into a ball and then
• Then stick in the feathers and feet, apply eyes and beak. Easy-peasy





  

Burnham Bunch: Thanksgiving Noodle Necklaces

Pilgrims/Friendship

Read: The Little Pilgrim by Brandi Dougherty

Storyboard: Turkey Wore a (Color) Feather

Tune: Mary Wore a Red Dress

Turkey wore a red feather, red feather, red feather.

Turkey wore a red feather all day long.

....continue calling out various colors having children place their feather on board as their color is called.

....last verse

Turkey wore rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers, rainbow feathers.

Turkey wore rainbow feathers all night long.

Craft: "Native American" Noodle Necklaces

• Need: Dyed macaroni -- in various colors, pipe cleaners or string.
• Prior to storytime dye the macaroni. This is really simple: mix food coloring and isopropyl alcohol in a Ziplock bag (enough to cover the mac). Add mac and let sit until you get the desired hue. Lay mac in a single layer on a paper towel-covered cookie sheet. Not going to lie to you....the smell is HARSH! Let dry overnight.
• At storytime, set each child's place with cup or plate (we used recycled fruit cups), 12-15 macaroni, and pipe cleaner or string.
• *Hint* You may need to combine two pipe cleaners for necklace length. And threading is a ton easier for wee ones when using pipe cleaners. Also, "j" the ends, so the noodles don't fall off when they are thread
• Instruct them on how to thread their mac onto the pipe cleaner or string. Afix the two ends together and slip over their heads. Super cute and EASY!  

Our "beads"

 

Beautiful Necklace



Burnham Bunch: Squirrels

Squirrels

Read: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri

Craft: Acorn painting (No Time for Flash Cards/Mom Tried It)

• Need acorns, paint - orange, yellow, brown, acorn stencil.
• Like marble painting and apple printing. Children can experiment with acorns by rolling and using top for stamping. (Thanks for the acorns, mom!!)

No Time for Flash Cards



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