DOOR 2 DOOR STORYTIME

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY SKILLS:  Phonological Awareness & Vocabulary

BOOKS TO DISPLAY
Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srininvasan
I’m Not Scared! by Jonathan Allen
I’m Not Cute! by Jonathan Allen
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Little Hoot by Amy Rosenthaal
The Littlest Owl by Caroline Pitcher
Cock-a-Doodle Hooooooo! by Mick Manning
Wow! Said the Owl by TIm Hopgood
Over in the Meadow by Olive Wadsworth

BASIC TIMELINE

1. Intro
2. Hello Song
3. Read-a-Loud Book
4. Finger Puppet Rhyme
5. Read-a-Loud Book
6. Flannelboard
7. Read-a-Loud Book
8. Action Rhyme
9. Rhyme
10. Read-a-Loud Book
11. ASL Goodbye Song
12. Craft

READ-A-LOUD BOOKS

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Bear’s New Friend by Karma Wilson
Good Night, Owl by Pat Hutchins
A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

ACTIVITIES

Finger Puppet Rhyme: “Two Little Owls” (modified Two Little Blackbirds)
Two little owls sitting on a hill,
One named Jack, the named Jill.
Fly away Jack. Fly away, Jill.
Come back, Jack. Come back, Jill.

Flannelboard: “One Little Owl” (via North Mankato Taylor Library)
One little owl when the moon was new,
Along came another owl, and that made two.
Two little owls perched high in the tree,
Along came another owl, and that made two.
Three little owl flew to the barn door,
Along came another owl, and that made four.
Four little owls lined up side by side,
Along came another owl, and that made five.
Five little owls hooted “whoo, whoo, whoo,”
Then they all flapped their wings and away they flew.

Action Rhyme: “Wide-Eyed Owl” (via King County Library System)
There’s a wide-eyed owl (circle your eyes with your hands)
With a pointed nose (make a beak with your fingers)
Two pointed ears (make ears with your fingers)
And claws for toes  (wiggle your “claws”)
He lives way up in the tree (point way up)
And when he looks at you (point to children)
He flaps his wings (flap your wings)
And says, “Whoo! Whoo!” (say “whoo”)

Rhyme: “Owl in the Tree” (via Kentucky Dept. for Libraries & Archives)
(Tune: Skip to My Lou)
Owl in the tree says, who, who, who?
Owl in the tree says, who, who, who?
Owl in the tree says, who, who, who?
Who, who are you?

CRAFT: Owl on a Stick Puppets!

I’ve had this craft prepped and ready to go for a couple of months. I used various sized, hand-held circle craft punches to create all of the circular elements. I created templates in order to facilitate tracing dozens of wings, beaks, torsos and and triangular foreheads, and then cut everything out of paper bags and colored construction paper one afternoon back in the Fall. In order to make this a preschooler/toddler friendly craft I pre-glued the eyes and beaks on to the bodies prior to storytime. Once they finished gluing their owls, each child was bound and determined to show me their version before setting off across the library “hooting” loudly.

REVIEW:

Bear’s New Friend and Goodnight, Owl! were by far the biggest hits of this week’s storytime sessions. I really like Owl Babies, but I struck out on the voices and cadence of the story, so most children had difficulty connecting with the text. Thus, I removed it from the Storytime lineup by Friday morning. The extension activities were successful, and the munchkins enjoyed counting from one to five during the Little Owl flannelboard activity.

Storytime crafts Door 2 Door Storytime early childhood literacy every child ready to read home school library nocturnal owls phonological awareness vocabulary