Spooooky Story Time... Wuuhhaa Ha Ha!

I received a request for Halloween story time ideas, so hopefully this post will be somewhat helpful for anyone in need of some spooktacular inspiration.

My October favorites include The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything (Linda Williams), The Teeny Tiny Woman (Paul Galdone), Go Away Big Green Monster (Ed Emberley), and Too Many Pumpkins (Linda White) & Pumpkin Pumpkin (Jeanne Titherington). The latter two, not so scary, but great October reads nonetheless.

These have been my favorites for a while now. As I'm typing this, I'm thinking it's probably time to branch out and add some new titles to the repertoire. So please leave your suggestions in the comment sections. I need some!!

Check out the photos below to see the fun time we had with our Little Old Lady inspired rebus readers last week. They had a fun pocket on the front for the children to store all their scarecrow pieces in. They each got to take their "book" (rebus reader) home and share the spooky story with others!

And read here and here for more info and ideas to correlate with my books suggestions above.

Delayed Post!

Been out of town. New post coming soon! Sorry for the delay!

Handmade Kid Lit Art Canvases For Sale!

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Bernard Waber) - $20

Cinderella (K.Y. Craft) - $15

I've been wanting to begin making these treasures for a while now. The swiftly approaching holiday season provided the perfect inspiration for me to carve out some time in my schedule.

I'm selling these canvases to raise money for our Ethiopian Adoption! All the money earned from sales will go directly into our adoption fund.

The canvases are made using up-cycled kid lit books. :) A great way to celebrate a story and its art! Email me at watsonadoption@gmail.com if you would like to purchase either (or both) of these. They're ready to find a great home! I have priced the Cinderella canvas slightly lower since it was the first one I made. It's beautiful, but not as "polished" as those that followed.

Check back for more art to be posted soon!

And visit here for more beautiful handmade items (and coffee!) that all helps our adoption!

Autumn Adventures with My Little Reader!

It was such a beautiful day here today! Isaac and I went on a walk, and it turned into a bit of a nature hike.

We were crunching through the leaves, and then began finding some pretty ones!

We decided to take them home with us.

Isaac was particularly excited about this one.

We got home and found a book all about leaves to read (Lois Ehlert's Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf).

Isaac compared the leaves in the book to some we found on our walk.

He really like the leaf shaped holes in the illustrations.

Then we talked about how leaves fall from the trees. Here's Isaac being a tree and making some leaves fall.

And here he is comparing some leaves.

Then after dinner, we got out the felt board and played with some soft, colorful leaves.

Playing With the Alphabet

I keep forgetting to post this week. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm blaming the paper pregnancy!

So these photos I'm posting were from a couple months ago, but might as well have been taken yesterday. These are a couple of toys Isaac's been diggin' as of lately.

Today Isaac pulled out the mat for his Little People Zoo, pictured above, and threw up his hands and shrugged his shoulders when he didn't see the bag of animals sitting with it. So adorable!

I have a thing for alphabet toys. Anybody else have this issue? I think I need to broaden my horizons a bit.

Actually, I've been trying to incorporate print in Isaac's environment more, but am a little stumped as to how to do this. I don't particularly want to put labels on everything in my house. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions? How are you incorporating print in your little one's environment?

Optimal Fall Time Reading

photo by atp_tyreseus

The weather is cooling off, the school-agers are back in school, those annoying inflatable ghost decorations are popping up in your neighbors' front yards again... Autumn is here! And I don't know about you, but something about autumn makes me want to curl up and indulge in some frivolous reading. Don't know why that urge comes on, but it does, every year at this time. And I always give into it! No biographies, nothing deeply insightful or informational... I want fluff!

Perhaps our kiddos are having reading cravings as well? And if they're not, maybe they should be! Let's facilitate some cozy reading - autumn style! Here are my suggestions. Add yours in the comments section.

- Let your school-agers unwind with a book after hopping off the bus in the afternoon. Have some warm apple cider or popcorn balls ready for them (you can buy these pre-made if your not the domestic type), and invite them to kick up their feet up with a comic book, a magazine, or some heavier reading if they desire. Be sure to join them in the fun and be a reading role model.

- Take a trip to the park and bring some books along to read under a beautiful autumn tree! Don't forget to bring some blankets to sit on, and to wrap around you!

- Plan a nature walk or a trip to the pumpkin patch, and read some appropriately corresponding books before you go. Then discuss the things you see and experience, and how it compares to what was in the book/story.

- Talk about Halloween coming up and tell some spooky stories (appropriate to the child's age). This is also a great activity to be done on Halloween, perhaps after trick-or-treating while they snack on some of their bounty!

- Check your paper for fall festivals going on. There's often storytelling or storytimes of some sort going on at these.

What I've Learned From Reading to Preschoolers

As many of us know, the act of teaching often leads to us learning much ourselves. And here's some of what I've learned from all the reading to preschoolers I've done over the past 4 yrs. of Literacy Launchpad.

1. Attitude is everything.

I can make a story time sparkle, or completely kill it, all by the attitude I come into it with.

2. A good story can turn a bad day around instantly.

Crabby kiddo? A sad morning? Story time to the rescue! and this magic is not limited to children.

3. Preparation does not necessarily lead to success; in fact, it sometimes hinders it.

Some of my best lessons have been the ones that felt the most thrown together at the last minute. Seriously! And conversely, many of my most well thought out, perfectly planned lessons have totally flopped. Go figure.

4. Go with it.

Things don't always go as planned. Kids don't always sit as still as you want. Sometimes supplies get left at home. Book discussions go down unexpected bunny trails... These can turn out to be good things. Go with it!

5. Don't worry about what other people think.

Man, if I had a co-teacher in class with me each week, I probably would be too embarrassed to do a lot of the silly things I do during my read alouds: the voices, the dramatic emphasizing, the crazy facial expressions... My story times would be nothing without them. So who cares what other grown-ups might think? The students live for it. It's all about being zany!

6. First impressions don't matter much.

I've had quite a few students start class with me that had me wondering, "Oh lordy, how's this going to work?" But they always end up pleasantly surprising me (there was one rare exception, but it was a parent issue and not a student issue). Often they're the ones that bring so much life to class that I'm distraught when they graduate onto kindergarten.

7. Never give up.

Not with students. Not with a dream for a business... or a cause. Not with a lesson that seems to be going nowhere fast. Never give up.