Story time is back at Union Township and going strong!

This session we are working on ‘Concepts’, which is sometimes a hard concept to grasp (pun totally intended).  Our ‘concept’ last week was Opposites, which tied in nicely with our literacy skill of Vocabulary. (Don’t know about the Ready to Read Initiative’s Six Skills? Check them out for some great hints on helping your kids get on the road to reading!)

Some of the books we read this time were:

• Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland
• You and Me: We’re Opposites by Harriet Ziefert
• The Big, Bigger, Biggest Book by SAMi
• Tall by Jez Alborough
• Big is Big (and little, little) by J. Patrick Lewis

We learned lots of cool new words, including comparative adjectives (fancy, I know!) such as far, farther, farthest and short, shorter, shortest, as well lots and lots of opposite words like near-far, big-small, left-right and hello-goodbye. Our craft and our coloring sheet also had fun opposites on them.

We also did a variety of flannel board rhymes and finger rhymes during story time. If you’re playing along at home, try singing this flannel board song and substituting other location oriented opposite pairs. (Click here to see the image of the flannel board).

The Penguin Went Over the Iceberg
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
The penguin went over the iceberg,
To see what he could see.

To see what he could see,
To see what he could see.

The left side of the iceberg,
The right side of the iceberg,
The left side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see.

Was all that he could see,
Was all that he could see,
The other side of the iceberg,
Was all that he could see!

You can also try doing some of the following rhymes with your children to get them ready to hear some stories.

Taller, Smaller
When I stretch up, I feel so tall;
When I bend down, I feel so small.
Taller, taller, taller, taller;
Smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller,
Into a tiny ball
Big, Bigger, Biggest
A little ball, (make ball with finger and thumb)
A bigger ball, (make ball with two hands)
And a great big ball I see. (make a ball with arms)
Now help me count them,
One, two, three! (repeat gestures for each size)

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s going on at Story Time!