Hooray for letter O! It's story time Wednesday!

Good afternoon readers! Today we had lots of giggles and smiles at story time. It was one of those cosmic instances where everyone was on the same wavelength. Moods were all pleasant, the sun was shining, and all the jokes were gold! It doesn't happen all the time, so when it does, you have to reflect on how fortunate you are. Well, I don't do a whole lot with puppets, but it may be time to begin changing that since my puppet was such a phenomenal hit. I bought this puppet from Liz Goble at The Book Farm. You can put your hand in it and manipulate five of the tentacles. When I made Oliver (Yes, that's his name.) talk I moved my free finger move up and down over my lips to make him sound underwater. The kids LOVED him. I think it really helped them enjoy the first story as well, which I was nervous about.

That book in question was Cowboy and Octopus by John Scieszka and Lane Smith. A short, goofy collection of short tales about two unconventional best friends. Each story has a good punchline, but they all teach lessons for kids such as being honest with friends, helping each other out, and being polite about something that you don't really like. Having Oliver handy (Yeah...it's a pun) helped the kids visualize this story. I wasn't sure they would get this book, but luckily for me it turned out to be the favorite of the morning! Next, we read Animal Opposites by Jeff Horacek. This is a book that teaches a solid preschool concept, and it has fold-outs on nearly every page. It's definitely worth checking out. Finally I read Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace. It's a cute story about a little owl who just wants to go to bed and fights his parents about staying up late. The more astute kiddos get why this is funny. The rest of them can just enjoy a nice, easy going story with some funny moments.

Here's what we did today

Heidisongs ABC Action and Letter O song/dance

Greeting Song: 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!

Magnet board- Opposite Match.
I found these opposite printables at First Grade A La Carte. With lots of verbal prompting and hand motions from me (If I'm not big, I'm very...) The older kids were able to guess the opposites and help the younger kiddos out.

Craft: Letter O Octopus.
Needs: Construction paper Letter O
Glue sticks
Googly eyes or eyeball stickers
Tissue paper cut into strips

Quick, easy, and fun! The kids made short work of this project, but they were all thrilled with the result!

Thanks for reading! See you next week!