Wee Read - Thanksgiving

Early Literacy Tip of the Week: Don't be afraid to improvise. The words don't need to be read as they appear in the book. You can just talk about the pictures.

Good Morning

Hello, How are You?

If You’re a Turkey and You Know It

If you’re a turkey and you know it,

Flap your wings.

If you’re a turkey and you know it,

Flap your wings.

If you’re a turkey and you know it,

And you really want to show it.

If you’re a turkey and you know it,

Flap your wings.

Continue with wibble, wobble; gobble gobble; do all three.

--Miss Mollie

Open Shut Them

Book One

This is Thanksgiving by Harriet Ziefert

Did You Ever See A Turkey?

Sung to: "Did you ever see a Lassie"
Did you ever see a turkey a turkey a turkey
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that
Go this way and that way and this way and that way
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

--PreschoolEducation.com

The Turkey

The turkey is a funny bird,

His head goes wobble, wobble, wobble.

All he says is just one word,

“Gobble, gobble, gobble.”

--HomeSchoolCreations.com

Turkey Feathers

Sung to: “Are You Sleeping?”

Turkey feathers, turkey feathers,

Red, orange, yellow,

Green and brown.

Which color is this?

Which color is this?

Do you know? Do you know?

--from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes. Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 1997.

Book Two

My First Thanksgiving by Tomie dePaola

The Leaves are Falling Down

Sung to: "The Farmer in the Dell"
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down.

--PreschoolEducation

Hello Mr. Turkey 

Sung to: "If You're Happy and You Know It"
Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?
Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you?
With a gobble, gobble, gobble,
And a wobble, wobble, wobble.
Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you?

--PreschoolEducation.com

Read Together

Counting Kisses by Karen Katz

The More We Get Together

Storytime - Thanksgiving

Toddler

Books: My First Thanksgiving by Tomie dePaola and This is Thanksgiving by Deborah Zemke.

Songs / Rhymes: “Good Morning”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Did You Ever See a Turkey”, “Turkey Feathers” on the felt board, and “The More We Get Together”.

Turkey Feathers

Sung to: “Are You Sleeping?”

--from Felt Board Fingerplays by Liz and Dick Wilmes. Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 1997.

*I handed each toddler a turkey feather. We sang the song, and at the end of each verse, I said a color of feather. Those toddlers with that color in their hand brought it to the front and placed it on the felt board.

Did You Ever See A Turkey?

Sung to: “Did You Ever See a Lassie?"
Did you ever see a turkey, a turkey, a turkey?
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?
Go this way and that way, and this way and that way,
Did you ever see a turkey go this way and that?

--PreschoolEducation.com

Craft: Build Your Own Turkey. Materials: Die cut brown construction paper circles, die cut feathers, full sheet of green construction paper, yellow construction paper beaks, googly eyes, crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued their turkey pieces to the green paper and colored them in.

Preschool

Books: The Thankful Book by Todd Parr and I Know an Old

Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson on the felt board (the felt board template came from Lil Country Kindergarten).

Songs / Rhymes: “Welcome to the Library”, “Hello, How Are You?”, “Hi There, So Glad You Came”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “Open, Shut Them”, “Did You Ever See a Turkey”, and “The More We Get Together”. 

Craft: Thankful Chains. Materials: Construction paper strips in five colors, crayons, glue, and tape. The preschoolers wrote one thing they were thankful for on each strip of paper. They used the strips to form a chain. When they were done, I went around the room and asked the children what they had written. One child wrote that she was thankful for the library!

Storytime - Colors of the Rainbow

This is by far my favorite storytime theme to do!

Books

• Duckie’s Rainbow by Frances Barry
• Toddler
• A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
• Toddler
• Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni
• Preschool
• Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
• Preschool

Songs/Rhymes

Color Ducks (flannel board)

Sung to: “Mary Wore a Red Dress”

If you have a red duck, red duck,

Red duck,

If you have a red duck, bring it to me now.

--Abby the Librarian

*I gave each child a duck, then sang the song. When I held up a color, each child with the same color brought it to me and placed it in my basket.

**Abby's version was about cows at the farm. 

Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue

Sung to: Head and Shoulders

Red, yellow, green, and blue,

Green and blue.

Red, yellow, green, and blue,

Green and blue.

Orange, purple, brown, and black.

Red, yellow, green, and blue,

Green and blue.

--Unknown.

*We sang the song once through, then took out the color red and replaced it with a red rectangle. At the rectangles, we clapped instead of singing the color.

**I don't have a source for this song, so if you know where it comes from, share the information!

Activities

Build a Rainbow

I asked the children to help me build a rainbow by finding what piece came next in order of size. The pattern is from Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan and Christine Kirker.

Mixing Colors Experiment

After reading Mouse Paint, I demonstrated how to mix colors by pouring water into clear cups and dropping in food coloring. The preschoolers guessed what color the water would turn when the two cups were mixed. One mom even called afterwards to say that her son had so much fun watching the experiment that he wanted to recreate it at home!

Crafts

Toddler - Build a Rainbow

Materials: Construction paper semi-circles in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, crayons, glue, and tape. I used the Storytime Magic template (see above). The toddlers glued their rainbows together in color order. 

Preschool - Mixing Colors

Mixing Colors. Materials: dyed macaroni noodles, color mixing print out, glue, tape, crayons, and scissors. The preschoolers matched the correct color of macaroni to the corresponding box on the paper. You can find the sheet I made for this here.

Wee Read - Fall is Here

Early Literacy Tip: Speak face-to-face when talking to your baby: they watch adults’ mouths to match shapes to sounds.

Books
Dappled Apples by Jan Carr
Orange PearApple Bear by Emily Gravett
BabyFarm Friends by Jeanie Lee (read together book)

Songs / Rhymes

Criss Cross Applesauce

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Three Little Apples (felt board not pictured)

Three little apples at the grocery store.

Three little apples, all lonely to the core.

When along comes a child with a quarter to pay,

She buys one and takes it away.

--Miss Mollie

The Leaves are Falling Down

Sung to: "The Farmer in the Dell"
The leaves are falling down
The leaves are falling down
Red, yellow, green, and brown
The leaves are falling down

--PreschoolEducation

Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Way up high in the apple tree

arms above head

Two little apples did I see.

make two fists

So I shook that tree as hard as I could,

wiggle body all over

Down, came the apples.

bring arms down, wiggling fingers

Mmmmmm, they were good!

rub tummy

--Passionate Librarian

I Wiggle My Fingers

--from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Tall as a Tree

--I’m a Little Teapot: Presenting Preschool Storytime by Jane Cobb. Vancouver, BC: Black Sheep Press, 1996.

Blue Bird, Blue Bird

Blue bird, blue bird,

On my window.

Blue bird, blue bird,

On my window.

Blue bird, blue bird,

On my window.

Oh, Mommy, I'm tired.

--Jim Thomas

Storytime - Apples

Books

• Dappled Apples by Jan Carr
• Toddler
• Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins
• Toddler
• The Apple Pie that Papa Baked
• Preschool

Songs/Rhymes

Five Little Apples

Five little apples at the grocery store.

Five little apples, all lonely to the core.

When along comes a child with a quarter to pay,

She buys one and takes it away.

--Miss Mollie

Way Up High in the Apple Tree

Way up high in the apple tree

arms above head

Two little apples did I see.

make two fists

So I shook that tree as hard as I could,

wiggle body all over

Down, came the apples.

bring arms down, wiggling fingers

Mmmmmm, they were good!

rub tummy

--Passionate Librarian

A-P-P-L-E

Sung to: “B-I-N-G-O”

There is a fruit I really like,

And Apple is its name-o.

A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E

And Apple is its name-o.

--Miss Mollie

Craft

Toddlers - Apple Tree

Materials: Die cut red construction paper mini apples, die cut brown construction paper trees, die cut green construction paper clouds (leaves), crayons, glue, and tape. The toddlers glued and taped the leaves and apples to their trees.

Preschool - Small a

I taught the preschoolers about the difference between capital A and lower case a before handing them this color-by-number sheet.