Letter H story time! Hippos! Horses? Hearts!

 It's story time Wednesday! We had another great crowd who were excited to get going and they had their dancing shoes on! For letter H, I chose three of my favorites. Are You A horse? by Andy Rash, George and Martha: One Fine Day by James Marshall, and The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.

The kids were jazzed up for the Alphabet Action dance from Heidisongs. Even my more reluctant kiddos were up and moving around this time. It's so rewarding to see their confidence blossom! It truly makes my day.

After Alphabet Action, I greet all the kids with the same song, but today I got away from my ukulele and brought my acoustic guitar back out. I had forgotten how rich and full it sounds compared to the ukulele. I'll have to bring it out more often. But we sang We're all here (skip to my Lou)
Here, Here, We're all here!
Here, here, We're all here!
Here, here, We're all here!
We're here at story time!
Hello, ______. How are you?
Hello, ______. How are you?
Hello, ______. How are you?
I'm glad you're here today!
Repeat for each child. (Yes, it takes a few minutes sometimes)

The kids really liked my George and Martha plushies, but I think the three short stories in there were really over their heads. They did like the story where George and Martha were grossing each other out during lunch. George turns green and the kids thought that was silly.

We played a small game with the Magic Hat next. For Are You a Horse, I put a bunch of letter magnets into the hat. I pulled them out one at a time, and asked them "Are you a horse?" The kids loved shouting, "No! That's a _____!" I thought it really served as a good lead in to the book. However, the kids sort of lost attention toward the end of the book. They did key right in when they saw the horse in the woods toward the end. The parents thought the ending was hilarious. The little ones didn't quite get why it was so funny.

Our next activity was to sing H-E-A-R-T to the tune of bingo.
I know a shape that stands for love and heart is it's name-o
I'm sure you know where it's going from there.

The kids were kind of checked out throughout The Day it Rained hearts. I think perhaps, I could have led with it. They were ready to craft.

I found this letter H house craft at the ABC and 123 learning co-op. All you really need is an H cut from construction paper, a different color background, markers, glue, and a third color triangle for the roof. The kids glue the roof to the back of the H. Then they glue the H to the background Finally, they can add doors, bushes, flowers, windows, etc...It was fun! I have a very crafty group!

That's all for this Story time Wednesday! See ya next time!

-Pixelbeard the Librarian (Mr. Mike)