Is your Mama a Llama?

If you haven't heard of this book - where have you been? I got the book on CD from the library (the books on CD are a great way to get some variety in reading books, so they don't always
have to hear my boring voice)

Anyways, the llama is looking for his mama, and asks all the other animals, "Is your mama a llama?" They all say no, then descibe (with really good adjectives) what their mama looks like.

After we read the book, we pulled out all the stuffed animals, threw them all on a blanket. Then began sorting.

I would ask who can find a duck? Who can find another? I went through, until all the animals were matched up.

During this, I also asked the kids to describe details about each animal, for example:

What color is the penguins tummy?

What does the duck say?

How many bears are there?

So on and so forth.

And of course they put them ALL away before we finished.

(this activity is very similer to my other animal sort, I just used a book to help)

The Library

Do you take your kids to the library? We do! Every week!

My kids love going there, being in a large city we have tons of locations to choose from. Each library has a huge, beautiful kids area, with little chairs and little computers, that are easy for the kids to use.

Check the Internet because most libraries in any town offer toddler story times with songs, finger plays, and darling little books. My little one was just singing one of the songs while she was waking up this morning!

The best part is that we come home with new books every week. I love that I don't have to spend the money on new books, and yet we get to have new book adventures every time we come home!

The story time is also a great opportunity to teach your child to sit still and listen to an adult, you know, getting them ready for those school days in a few years!

MInerva the Monster

We checked a listening story out at the library. The book was called "Minerva the Monster" It was a really cute book. In the book, Minerva made a monster face out of a paper plate, and went around scaring everyone. So, we decided to do it too. Poor little Chloe, cried and ran every time "Minerva the Monster"came near.

(Of course, I made her write her name on the back for practice)


Materials:

**If you wanted to, you could make it way cooler with glitter, pom-poms, and all sorts of more crafty stuff than I used

Paper Plate

Markers or crayons
Paper or cardboard for the ears

Ribbon to tie around childs head (elastic would be better, but I didn't have any)

...and off she goes a scarin'

Listening Center

Great Book!

When I used to teach , we always had a book listening center in my room, where the kids would put on head phones and listen to an audio version of a story and follow along in the book. The kids loved it! I thought I would try this with R. I checked them out at the library, and she enjoyed them, and asked to do it over and over again. She figured out quickly to turn the page when the bell rings. I think its nice when Riley can hear other people reading a story other than me too, try it out!