Letter A Storytime
Scott Bahlmann
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Alfred Digs – Lindsay Barrett George
(It was a little bit wordy, but the kids liked it!)
Activity: Ant’s Go Marching
The ants go marching 1 by 1 hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching 1 by 1 hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one,
the little one stopped to stand in the sun
and they all went marching down, in the ground,
to get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
(Continue with 2 by 2, etc.)
(This was a bit of a fizzle. I tried to get the kids to find rhyming words with the numbers, which didn't work for my Thu group. I loved a suggestion on Tue though, Jive as a rhyme for 5!)
Book: It’s an Orange Aardvark – Michael Hall
(A fun book with a predictive element, and color identification!)
Activity: Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple tree
(hold apple cutout over head)
a little red apple smiled at me.
I shook the tree as hard as I could,
(shake arm and drop apple)
down came the apple!
Mmmm was it good!
(We did this with red, green and yellow apples. Then with 2 little, and 3 little apples. The kids love shaking the apples down!)
Book: Apple Pie ABC – Alison Murray
(What can you make with the apples from the tree? Pie! A nice narrative through the alphabet.)
Activity: Dog in School (alphabet)
There's a dog in school, OH NO!
What are we going to do?
As long as there's a dog in school
He'll have to learn his alphabet, too!
(Bark the ABC song, then continue with other animals. I used a dog, cat, mouse, dinosaur, then child to sing the proper way.)
(After the dog eats some pie, we take it to school. This was very popular!)
Book: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse – Eric Carle
(After all those silly animals in school, we get to see how an artist sees different animals! Another opportunity for the kids to show their smarts by identifying the colors.)
Activity: Art
(We finished by giving the kids a picture frame template, and letting them make their own art!