K is for Koala

Storytime today was lots of fun with lots of kids! We had a total of 15 little ones in attendance. I greeted each one at the door with our cool Folkmanis Koala puppet.

Then to the rug....we started out with our opening song "If You're Happy & You Know It". Next we talked about the weather which was Rainy, Cloudy AND Windy here in Oklahoma!

Show and Tell brought 2 Katana swords, a kangaroo, a Lego knight and Lego king as well as a koala. I think Show and Tell is one of my favorite things about our alphabet storytime series. Anyone who brings a S&T item comes up and they tell the group what they brought. The rest of the kids repeat the name of the item and then we thank the Show and Teller and clap for them. It's great to see a shy kid get up and share. I think it helps them come out of their shell a little.
We read 2 books today. Pouch by David Ezra Stein is a sweet book about a baby joey who explores the frightening world outside of his momma's pouch and My Kitten by Margaret O'Hair written in rhyme which is all about the daily like of a kitten.

I brought in lots of other books for them to choose from for checkouts- books about kings, kites, kids, kittens, kangaroos, knights and kisses.

My magnet board activity was 5 Little Kites from Storytime Katie.

Five Little Kites
One little kite in the sky so blue,
Along came another, then there were two.
Two little kites flying high above me;
Along came another, then there were three.
Three little kites, just watch them soar,
Along came another, then there were four.
Four little kites, so high and alive
Along came another, then there were five.
Five little kites dancing across the sky,
What a sight to see, way up so high!

I printed a pattern and paperpieced my kites together then laminated them for durability. They are one of my favorite sets I have made so far.

Off to the tables for some fine motor skills activities.
Our Letter K activity today was a Koala.

We also did a matching key activity similiar to this one from Desert Crafter. I had a ton of keys in my craft cabinet. I traced the ones I had several of and made a template dividing a sheet of paper into fourths and putting a different traced key shape in each section and laminated them of course. Then I gave them a variety of keys which they had to put in the right section.

I found some foam King's Crowns in our bog box of "All Things Foam" so I pulled those out for the kids to decorate. Here is one my crafty little granddaughter made.

Our last activity was a set of kites that I cut out, laminated and punched a hole in the end. The kids then added a chain of colored paperclips for the tail. Of these activities I would say the keys were the hit. One child asked if he could take a key home and so I ended up letting a bunch of my keys go. We may not repeat that activity. :-)

Each family took a copy of Koala Lou by Mem Fox home along with a set of "K" worksheets and puzzles.

We have an inventory of books left over from a literacy grant that I have been giving away. Koala Lou is one of those. These are some great books and have been well received by the parents.
That's all for K. I will be back next week for the Letter L!
Blessings~
Mrs. Angel