DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILL: Letter Knowledge

BOOKS TO DISPLAY

Apple by Nikki McClure
The Ants Go Marching by Dan Crisp
Ant, Ant, Ant! An Insect Chant by April Pulley Sayre
Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett
A Very Boring Alligator by Jean Gralley
A is for Apple by Georgie Birkett
Antelope Woman: An Apache Folktale by Michael Lacapa
My “a” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray
Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Rhyme
3. Read-a-Loud Book
4. Song
5. Read-a-Loud Book
6. Music & Movement Song
7. Read-a-Loud Book
8. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

Airplanes: Soaring! Turning! Dying! by Patricia Hubbell
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr.
Milo Armadillo by Jan Fearnley

ACTIVITIES

Rhyme: First portion of Animal Alphabet Rhyme

A is for alligaor who lives in the swamp,
He dreams of adventure and apples to munch.
He flies to Alaska with an ant on his head,
The snow from above almost covers their sled.
The alligator had an action filled romp,
His alarm clock goes off and he’s awake in the swamp.

Song: ABC Song

Music & Movement Song: The Ants Go Marching

CRAFT: Lower Case ‘a’ Apples!

I got the inspiration for this simple and cute craft from the Totally Tots Blog. I decided to deviate from the original prototype, and have the kids make green apples instead of red. So I purchased a set of lime green plates from The 99 Cents store.  I created a basic, lower-case ‘a’ shaped template to use for tracing purposes. Leftover scrapbook paper was used to create the apple stems. I used plain white paper to fashion the apple core, and drew the apple seeds using a black permanent marker. I scanned the original apple core, and printed multiple copies which were cut out prior to storytime. I wanted to make assembly as easy as possible—due to the limited number of adults present.

REVIEW

Given my weekly storytime schedule at GBL2, I have decided to make storytime planning as easy and flexible as possible. So I will be presenting alphabet storytimes for the preschoolers from the child development center who attend storytime at GBL2. Each week I will focus on a new, consequtive letter until I reach XYZ (or land a paying library gig!). To kick off alphabet storytime, I began with the Letter ‘A.’ Overall, this theme was less successful than prior themes. The kids had a hard time staying focused, and Milo Armadillo (despite its theme and beautiful illustrations) was a poor read-a-loud choice. Unfortunately, the story was too long. I had to redirect the children’s attention by asking a number of questions throughout the tale. I’ll make adjustments for next week’s Letter B Storytime.

Storytime apple crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy home school letter A letter knowledge library paper plate crafts