GO TO BED, MONSTER!

GO TO BED, MONSTER!  by Natasha Wing tells the story about Lucy, a little girl who could not…would not…DID NOT…want to go to sleep.  Instead she wanted to draw.  But, when she picked up her crayons and drew some shapes, she created…a monster!  The funny thing is that monster did not want to go to sleep either.

I love this book, but it was hard to read with a large group because the pictures are a bit small to see from the back of the room. 

So…I flannelized it!
I drew the pieces, colored them with crayon just as Lucy had done and then laminated everything.  I stuck with the main pieces of the story and left out others, mainly because of lack of time that week.  When I told the story, I actually pretended that I was Lucy! 
The monster wants to play so they fly airplanes (that was a prop).  When the monster is hungry, Lucy draws a pile of meatballs.  When he is thirsty, she draw him a bucket of water–glub, glub!  He gets scared so Lucy draws a huggy bear.  When it is too dark, she draws him a moon.  He still won’t go to bed, so she reads him a book.  Finally the monster and Lucy are sleepy so they both climb into bed and go to sleep!  I used a piece of material to cover him up. Cute story that works great with many different themes!

 

 

 

Storytime is a ‘Whoo-whoo-whooot’!

Today we read books about Owls and it was a Whoot! 

Opening Ritual:  “If You’re Happy And You Know It”
*Sallie (the most wonderful volunteer!) helped greet the kids with a beautiful white owl puppet. 

Book:  A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

An adorable book that the kids really enjoyed.  An owl flies through the night and discovers all the ways different animals sleep.  Loved the way the owl is on every page!

Action Rhyme:  Wide-Eyed Owl

Here’s a wide-eyed owl,
(bring pointer finger and thumb of both hands together and place before eyes)
With a pointed nose,
(make a beak with both pointer fingers an dplace before nose)
And claws for toes.
(arch hands, curl fingers)
He lives high in a tree.
(clasp hands high above head)
When he looks at you,
(bring pointer finger and thumb of both hands together and place before eyes)
He flaps his wings,
(bend elbows, flap hands)
And says, “Whoo, whoo-o-o.”
(make “whoo” sounds)

Flannel board:  The Wise Old Owl
A girl and her grandfather discover mice in the house!  They decide to go to the Wise Old Owl for some advice on how to get rid of the mice.  The owl tells them to get a cat.  The cat gets rid of the mice, but then the cat starts making a mess in the house.  The girl and her grandfather go back to the Wise Old Owl for advice on now how to get rid of the cat!  The owl tells them to get a dog who does scare the cat away, but then the dog starts making trouble!  A silly flannelboard that keeps building until finally the girl and her grandfather decide maybe mice aren’t so bad after all…

Get the Wiggles Out: Raffi’s “Shake Your Sillies Out”
Gets the wiggles out every time!

Book:  Hello, Day!  by Anita Lobel

Cute story–the kids liked pretending they were the animals saying Hello, Day!  And, then of course, at the end they were owls saying Goodnight…

Action Rhyme:  This Little Owl

This little owl slept all day,

(Hold up first finger, lay head on hands)

This little owl flew away,

(Hold up second finger, make flying motions with hands)

This little owl made not a sound,

(Hold up third finger, put finger to lips)

This little owl is nice and round,

(Hold up fourth finger, hold arms out to make a big stomach)

This little owl could only say,

“Whooo, whooo, whooo, have a nice day!”

(Hold up thumb, and wave other hand)

 

Flannel board:  Good-night, Owl!  by Pat Hutchins

Song/Activity:  Owl In the Tree
Handed out owl stick puppets to the kids.  When the music played, we pretended it was night time and flew the owls around.  When I stopped the music, we pretended it was day (well, it actually was!) and we made our owls go to sleep.  And, so on…This was a great “freeze” song and the kids liked playing with the owls.  I did not play the entire song, just went until I thought the kids were ready to move onto another activity.  In order to get the owls back so I could use them another day…I took out a brown box and said it was a tree for the owls to go to sleep in.  Amazingly enough the kids all were very excited to be able to put their owls back in the tree!  Nobody cried about letting go of their owl and all were received back intact!

Craft:
Owl Before                                                                                                            Owl After

Food for a Fussy Flower!

Fran’s Flower by Lisa Bruce is a delightful book that teaches children about plant growth and patience.  It can be used for themes such as Growing Things, Flowers, Gardens, etc.  I read the book aloud and used the clip art, flowerpot and flowers as props.  But, this story can also be told as a flannel board using the clip art and adding in puppets to act as Fran and her dog.  Hope you enjoy!

In this adorable book a little girl named Fran finds a flowerpot filled with soil and a tiny green sprout, and decides she is going to make it grow.  Fran decides to feed the sprout everything she likes to eat…things like pizza, ice cream, and maybe even a cheeseburger!   Of course, the sprout does not grow, but when Fran decides to throw the flowerpot out the back door, Mother Nature takes over and the sprout grows into a beautiful surprise for Fran…a flower!

 Clip Art

I printed out clip art to illustrate the different foods Fran feeds her tiny sprout.  I used a flowerpot/vase to put each food item in as I read the book, and boy did that bring some laughs!  When Fran throws the sprout out, I moved the flowerpot/vase behind my flannel board.  Then we acted out the sun coming out and the rain coming down. 

 

 
 

 

Flowers bloom after the sun and rain!

And, of course at the end of the book, I brought out the flowerpot/vase again, but this time with flowers inside it–the kids were so into the story they thought it was magic!