Story Time - I Can Do It!

I originally planned this story time because I wanted to read this book:

9781442406209

$17.99

Very sweet story with a million little lessons and great pictures. When the time came, however, I decided it was too long for the group I have had lately (not bad listeners, just skewing younger, with a lot of new faces). I switched to these titles instead:


978-0399242403
(out of print)

This one proved to be a little too long as well, but the kids Monday did like Milli's creations, and they lent themselves well to the craft project. For Wednesday's story time, I switched it with:

9780062250179
$17.99

Review of this one coming up December 7! Even though it mentions going to school, it is great for getting kids talking about all the things they CAN do (which led to some funny conversation with Wednesday's group).


9780762455065
$16.95

Cute story about the pursuing your passions (and not giving up) rather than trying to be perfect at everything - and about parents' expectations.

Finally, a favorite of librarians and art teachers:


9780763619619
$14.00

We had already talked about saying you are not good at something yet. This book addresses finding out you may good at something after all - especially when you let go of assumptions about what that means.

For our art project, I gave each child one 'dot' (plain paper plate) to start off with, but encouraged them to use more. I set out watercolors, scrap paper and glue (no markers!) and invited them to use their imaginations to decorate their dots any way they chose. No wrong ways to do it! The little boy who just kept dumping more water on his? Why not!

Practicing your scissors skills on the finished project?

Good for you!
And here is the one she left intact, which I also thought was pretty cool:

I was very happy that they all did indeed do something different:

This one made me think of The Big Orange Splot, one of our favorite books at home:

(Thank-you, Ellie, for the pictures!)

Lots of fine motor skills and creative thinking going on, as well as Print Motivation. Looking for a fun and easy Christmas gift? Package up:

- a ream of copy paper
- a package of construction paper
- old magazines
- a box of brand new crayons (come on, spring for the big box with the sharpener!)
- glue (lots)
- tape (even more)
- scissors

and let them go to town, no instructions. You can even pack it all inside a small trash can, for all the snips and squiggles that end up on the floor! Add things like yarn or popsicle sticks if you want, but try to shy away from already-prepared crafts. Let their imaginations take the lead!