L is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: lobster

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) lemonade and lizard, lightening and light bulb

Sign Language: Letter

Flannel Board: Lemons in a bowl
Five big lemons in the bowl. One fell out and started to roll.
It bumped the table and hit my toe
How many lemons in the bowl? 1-2-3-4
~ Continue to count down ~

Book: What the ladybug heard

Song: Laundry song
(Sung To: "Old McDonald had a Farm") --props—laundry basket with different articles of clothing

Old McDonald did the laundry e-i-e-i-o
And in his basket he had a shirt e-i-e-i-o
With a wash, wash here And a wash, wash there
Here a wash, there a wash Everywhere a wash, wash
Old McDonald did the laundry e-i-e-i-o

More verses: Socks, pair of pants, jacket, towel, etc.
This song didn't go over very well on Wednesday, so we sang Jingle Bells on Thursday instead.

Nursery Rhyme: Mary had a little lamb

Book: Mary had a little lamb by Mary Ann Hoberman

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: ABC dot-to-dot, lion (cut mane), ladybug spot match, lacing cards

I copied a "bear face" onto yellow papers and cut them out. I used the AccuCut circle and cut out yellow and brown circles. At storytime the children glued the face into the center of the circle then cut snips all the way around the circle to form a mane.

K is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: Kleenex

Sign Language: Letter

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) kindergarten and key, kangaroo and king

Sign Language: kangaroo

Flannel Board: Kitten song

Book: No more kissing!
On Wednesday the children asked to read it a 2nd time, since I had a small group I was able to.

Song: Koala, koala turn around

Koala, koala,Turn around,
Koala, koala, Touch the ground.
Koala, koala, Dance on your toes,
Koala, koala, Touch your nose.
Koala, koala, Give a little clap,
Koala, koala, Take a nap.
(The children can follow the koala's actions.)

Nursery Rhyme: Old King Cole

Book: Koalas (Valerie Bodden) and/or A Kitten Tale
On Wednesday I read A Kitten Tale and on Thursday I read Koalas. (A Kitten Tale went over better.)

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: K page, kitchen pictures, puzzles, sort kittens (put right number of kittens with mother cat (print number from 1-5 on each mother cat)
I brought stuffed kittens from home. Wednesday the children had a great time sorting and playing with them. On Thursday the children (especially the boys) started throwing them around, etc.

I used this picture of a kitchen http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-kitchen-i8787.html I used an Exacto knife and cut along the sides of the oven, etc. so they would "open". I glued these on a larger piece of construction paper. I also cut out lots of little "food" items (and a few silly items) from an old cooking magazine. At storytime the children selected different pictures and glue them "inside" the fridge, drawers, etc.

J is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: Juice box

Sign Language: Letter

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) juggler and jam; jellyfish and jacket

Sign Language: Juice (use your pinky finger to draw the letter “J” at the corner of your mouth)

Flannel Board: Jelly beans countdown
5 little jelly beans, I wish I had more!
I'll eat the (color) one. Now there are four!
4 little jelly beans, Tasty as can be
I'll eat the (color) one. Now there are 3!
3 little jelly beans, Only a few.
I'll eat the (color) one. Now there are 2.
2 little jelly beans, Eating them is fun!
I'll eat the (color) one. Now there is one.
1 little jelly bean, The last one for me!
I'll eat the (color) one. I'm as happy as can be!

Book: If I were a jungle animals

Song: Jingle Bells

Nursery Rhyme: Jack and Jill

Book: Jump!

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: painting with Jell-o, dot-to-dot, jingle bells, beads
Mix Jell-o powder with a warm water to make scented water colors. If it gets too thick warm in the microwave for a few seconds.

I is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: water in a small baggie (used to be ice!)

Sign Language: Letter

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) insect and infant, iguana and instrument

Sign Language: I Love You

Flannel Board: 1 Icy Igloo
One icy igloo, near the snow that blew
A neighbor built another, and then there were 2.
2 icy igloos, round as round can be
A neighbor built another, and then there were 3.
3 icy igloos, heard the windy roar
A neighbor built another, and then there were 4.
4 icy igloos keeping friends alive
a neighbor built another, and then there were 5.

Book: What’s the big idea, Molly?

Song: Icy Toes, chilly nose
(sung to Jingle Bells)
Icy toes, chilly nose wintertime is here.
My teeth chatter, what's the matter?
Wintertime is here, Oh!
Icy toes, chilly nose wintertime is here.
My teeth chatter, what's the matter?
Wintertime is here!

Nursery Rhyme: Ichabod inchworm started to twitch, because he had an itch, itch, itch.

Book: Rhino’s great big itch

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: Ice Cream Match, insect sorting/patterning, dot-to-dot, make an ice cream cone with triangle and circle, eat real ice cream!

H is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: Hedgehog puppet

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) heart and hospital; hammer and house

Sign Language: Letter

Flannel Board: Carl the Clown (hats)
My name, boys and girls, is Carl the Clown
I wear my hats all over town.
Each one has its own color name,
Which you can learn if you play my game.
On, here's a hat, and it is red
It fits so nicely on my head.
Now when I wear my hat of yellow,
I'm told I'm quite a dandy fellow.
I hope you like my hat of blue.
I'll put it on now, just for you.
My purple hat is just for good.
I'd wear it always if I could.
I wear a white hat on a sunny day.
It looks quite nice, my friends all say.
I put on my green hat to visit the park,
But I take it off when it gets dark.
And when it's dark, I put on brown
This hat is for a sleepy clown.

Book: Hilda must be dancing

Song: If you’re happy and you know it…

Nursery Rhyme: Ho! Ho! Ho! I’m a hairy bear. Try to catch me, if you dare!

Book: The handiest things in the world

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment:
Hand puppets; handprint turkeys; hola hoops and bean bags; dot-to-dot

Poem to go with handprint turkey
This isn't just a turkey as you can plainly see.
I made it with my hand which is part of me.
It comes with lots of love especially to say,
I hope you have a very, Happy Thanksgiving Day!

G is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: glove

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) goose and grandparents; gift and girl

Sign Language: Letter G

Flannel Board: 5 Green Grasshoppers
5 green grasshoppers playing near my door
1 saw a honey bee, then there were 4
4 green grasshoppers playing near a tree
1 chased a busy fly, then there were 3
3 green grasshoppers looked for something new
1 met a cricket, then there were 2
2 green grasshoppers sitting in the sun
A ladybug called, “come play with me”, then there was 1.
1 green grasshopper said, “I’ll have some fun!”
She went to find her brothers, then there were none!

Book: The Tale of Two Goats

Song: G-R-E-E-N
(Sung to the tune of Bingo)
I have some yellow
I have some blue
I mix them them together to make something new
G-R-E-E-N
And green is that color!

Nursery Rhyme: Goosey, goosey gander

Book: Good Night Gorilla
(I was kind of worried about using a nearly wordless picture book, but my groups were small enough that all children could easily see the pictures. They talked about what was happening and thoroughly enjoyed it!)
ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: Play with the guitar and other musical instruments, decorate “G” with glue and gold glitter! Dot-to-dot, Good Night, Gorilla read together

Good Night, Gorilla Read Together
Dear Families - Young children learn a lot about reading by watching other people read to them. To play this game with your child, paste the pictures on top of the bold type word they describe. Then, with your child "reading" the pictures, read this summary of Good Night, Gorilla.

Idea taken from Adopted from http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/Good_Night_Gorilla_Activity_Card.pdf

I found different clip art of animals because I "expanded" the story by having the children add pictures of each animal going back to the zoo.

F is for...

Welcome Song

Henrietta’s Basket: Flag

Song: Be my echo (6 syllables x 2) Forest and farm, football and family

Sign Language: Letter F; friend

Flannel Board: Five Funny Frogs

5 funny frogs on lily pads galore; 1 swam away and that left 4
4 funny frogs, floating near a tree; 1 swam away and that left 3
3 funny frogs, wondering what to do; 1 swam away and that left 2
2 funny frogs, laughing and having fun; 1 swam away and that left 1
1 funny frog, playing in the sun; hopped off his lily pad and that left NONE!

Book: My Lucky Day

Stand-up Song: My Two Feet

I can walk with two feet, two feet, two feet.
I can walk with two feet, two feet, all day long.
Replace "walk" with skip, jump, hop, march, run, spin, tap

Nursery Rhyme: I had a little frog (his name is Tiny Tim)

Book: Barry, the fish with fingers

ABC Chant

Good bye Chant

Enrichment: F-page, fishing (magnet on the end of a pole, cut out fish with paper clips), puzzles, tissue paper flowers (5 flowers)
I made a simple sheet on the computer labeled Five Flowers. Along the bottom I put 1 2 3 4 5. The kids drew five stems for the flowers then added a crumpled up piece of tissue paper for each flower.