ABC Review

In January, Bobo learned letters A, B and C. The last week of the month will be a review week. 

I set up his white board for letter recognition review.

He used his Leapfrog flashcards to help identify the beginning sounds of his figures. He did insist on putting Captain America with the Avengers instead of the letter C like I expected. He said Cap has an A on his mask, so he should go with the letter A. I couldn't argue with that logic.

A for Avengers craft

We played a game with the exercise ABC flashcards. Bobo rolled the large cloth alphabet block with the letters A, B, C and the numeral 1. He identified the symbol, then did an action associated with it.

B is for Batman craft

I finally put together some letter crafts. I want to make sure the letters are bold and easily identifiable. The cutesy ones where the letter becomes a shape, like animals, are not what I'm looking for at the moment. I think those will come later when we go through the alphabet again. 

C is for Captain America (real shield)

The C craft is missing the letter because Bobo did not want to "ruin" his "real" shield. He modeled the colors of the shield from his Captain America costume. I still haven't come up with an alternate letter C craft. Maybe he can decorate the letter C with star stickers?

Flannel Friday

Flannel's so soft...

"The Most Wonderful Egg in the World" SLC Book Boy shares a teaser for the book by Helme Heine with flannel pieces for an adaptation. I must check out this book!

"Happy Birthday" with yummy cupcakes and a surprise ending from Ram Sam Storytime.

"Looking for a Hug" from Librarian VS Storytime.  Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo-doo! Add a favorite television character to one of your stories or rhymes.

"Five Comfy Mattresses" also known as "The Princess and the Pea" from The Voices Inside My Headphones is my kind of silly.

"Clip-Clop" from Piper Loves the Library is an adaptation of "the perfect book" according to Jane and I must agree. The black backing on the figures make them jump off the flannel board which can be challenging with that red.

"Five Royal Penguins" a countdown rhyme and guessing game by me!

"Heart Felt Songs" from Storytime ABC's offers several ideas for Valentine's Day programs. Could those hearts work for a rainbow storytime, too?

"Cookie Monster" from Read, Rhyme and Sing. Mmmm, C is for cookie that's good enough for me!

Is that a banana?

"Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich" A deliciously silly version of the Shel Silverstein poem from So Tomorrow.

"Winter Tree and Forest Animals" from Read, Sarah, Read. It's a lift-the-flap prop. Go ahead, click on it.

"Not a Box" from Thrive After Thee. A cardboard box is all you need for a brilliant story prop.



You CAN wear it on your finger

"Little Birdies" Welcome Storytime Fun to the mix with her many colored birds.

"Humpty Dumpty" from Libraryland. I love Dr. Jean!





How'd you do that?

"Flannel Board" out of a binder. How did she do it? Find out on Read it Again! Don't miss her fish flannel to share with little patrons.

"Cutting Flannel with a Silhouette Cameo" from Loons and Quines. A review I find interesting as I've been using my library's Cricut to make craft pieces. I haven't been brave enough to try flannel yet.



It's like flannel that doesn't fall down...

"Never Too Little to Love" SLC Book Boy shares my favorite love story with laminated pieces that look as if they popped right out of the book and an adorable giraffe hat.

"Musical Instruments" Story Time Secrets lets us in on the secret to planning storytimes for challenging letters like X and V.

And that concludes the round-up portion of this post. Thank you all for contributing such fun, inventive stories. If you would like to join the Flannel Friday group, you can follow us on Facebook or Pinterest. For more information, visit the Flannel Friday blog.

Read It Again!

The candles are lit! Flannel Friday will be celebrating our 2nd birthday on March 15th, 2013. There are several ways in which you can take part. First, fill out the Where in the World are you? survey. You do not need a blog or web site for this party game. The major festivities begin on March 8th when Rain Makes Applesauce will be sharing What Flannel Friday means to you? Contribute a poem, song, video or even a flannel story to show your appreciation for this fabulous group. If you can't make it to the party, but would still like to send a card (i.e. you don't have a blog), please leave a comment on Rain Makes Applesauce or our FB page.

Flannel Friday: Five Royal Penguins

Penguins by Miss Meredith

Five Royal Penguins

From: PUBYAC Digest, Vol 13, Issue 7

One royal penguin with nothing much to do,

Called for his brother and then there were two.

Two royal penguins happy as could be,

Called for their sister and then there were three.

Three royal penguins wished there were more,

Called for their mother and then there were four.

Four royal penguins learning how to dive,

Called for their father and then there were five.

One, two, three, four, five!

Each penguin has different color eyes, so I showed all of them before starting out the rhyme and asked the children to call out each character. After saying the rhyme once, I took down the penguins and had the children recall the colors as we said it again.

I also made a penguin guessing game to introduce the theme of the day that was inspired by our craft.

What do you get when you take a circle,

and you cut it in half,

and cut it in half again?

Hmmm, what can it be? Add a mouth and eyes to see... That's right, a penguin.

Sharing with the Kids Co-op and For the Kid's Friday

Review: Snorkeling with Sea-Bots!

Snorkeling with Sea-Bots! by Amy Lemke

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Wave-Making Robots

Recommends for readers of Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, Stone Rabbit series by Erik Craddock and Mighty Mighty Monsters series by Sean O'Reilly.

Summary: Kolten meets an underwater robot named Rip at the beach. Rip shows Kolten his home.

Review: Snorkeling is a delightful read with vibrant illustrations.  It will be a great introduction to graphic novels as it is easy to navigate. I'm often intimidated by the layout of graphic novels and move them to the pile of Daddy read-alouds.

The large illustrations and sparse text make this an excellent conversational book to explore "reading" the pictures. Small children can work on their narrative skills, while those a little bit older will enjoy the robots and oceanic humor. Didn't you know the waves, bubbles and mysteries of the sea are controlled by underwater robots?

Fun Extras: There are three activities at the end of the book to extend reading. Fabulous!

Sensitive Readers Beware: None. Good read for all ages. This would be a fun book to read with the whole family.

C is for Captain America

Captain America and Catwoman are all I've got! Bobo said Catwoman is a villain, so we can't use her. We found the Cap in pre-writing sheets, coloring, same/different and mazes. Bobo stamped some letter Cs. He also used his Leapfrog flash cards and letter magnets.

Painting yellow cars with a Cars stencil (on yellow paper, LOL).

Bobo did great with the letter C for identification. I didn't get into the copycat sound of the letter S too much. A video we watched did talk about it. We are going through the alphabet at a leisurely pace while his interest lasts.

I didn't take many pictures this week (now several weeks ago). We did find a wonderful video for the letter C!

Sharing with Learn & Link, Preschool & Kindergarten Corner, 

Flannel Friday Placeholder

I'm so happy to be hosting Flannel Friday this week. Please leave your links in the comments. I will be making another post throughout Friday and Saturday once I have everyone's ideas. Flannel Friday will be 2-years-old on March 15th, so we are planning something special. I'll have more information in the next post. Thank you for sharing! The Round-Up is Live...

Preschool Trays: A little bit of Valentine love

Bobo is really ready for Easter, but I assured him Valentine's Day comes first.

Puzzles are quickly becoming a favorite past time. The transportation puzzle by Melissa and Doug have chunky pieces great for imaginative play as well.

The wooden horse puzzle is a challenge at 24 pieces with similar looking horses.

Zombie Lab experiment making zombie skin. Mix and 10 minutes in the fridge make a delicious treat.

My little joker loves this Valentine joke cards. Lift the flap to find the answers.

Hand-print craft kit makes a lovely Valentine's gift for mommy.

Sparkly hearts for decorating.

We have more Valentine activities planned for this week. Bobo also loves exploring his red sensory bin.
Sharing on Montessori Monday.