Astronauts Zoom! An Astronaut Alphabet by Deborah Lee Rose
See how actual astronauts live and work at the International Space Station as you go through the alphabet from A to Z.
Skills
Print awareness
Narrative skills
Vocabulary
Practices
Reading
Talking
Extend this book with a video of a real astronaut reading the book from the International Space Station. Story Time from Space features different astronauts reading space themed books from space.
This book is about a robot who sees his true love while walking through town. He thinks about her for a day, talks to her the next, and then he decides he will bring her flowers.
To his heartbreak, she is missing and he looks everywhere. He walks into a nearby store and he finally sees her! You will have to read the story to see the hilarious twist.
Robot in Love will help build print awareness, vocabulary, and narrative skills.
This book also builds early literacy skills such as talking, reading, and playing.
Extend the book by building a paper robot.
What you will need:
1 Black sheet of paper
1 White sheet of paper
1 Pink or Red sheet of paper
1 Color paper of your choosing for the teeth
1 Different Color paper of your choosing for the robot head
Scissors
Glue stick
1: Make a square head for your robot. Make sure you also cut piece of paper with the same color paper for the head to make a flap for over the eyes. Cut out 2” white circles, 1” hearts, 1” black circles, 4 “teeth” of the color you chose, and 4 black small strips of paper.
2: On the back of the head, attach a black strip to each side of the square and glue. Take the other two strips and make a 'V' shape and glue it in the middle.
3: Turn the head over and add your white circles with your heart shaped eyes to the middle of them and add your teeth to the bottom of the square.
4: Attach the flap to the top of the head and put the remaining two white circles and then add the two black eyes to the middle.
5: Test the flap to see how it works, and congratulations! You have a robot in love.
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
This book helps kids build:
Print Motivation: This one is just plain silly! It can help make reading fun.
Print Awareness: The printing is part of the story; the cows' notes in the pictures draw attention to print.
Narrative Skills: Plot twist ahead! Can you guess what will happen next?
Phonological Awareness: This book is full of onomatopoeia, which emphasizes sounds.
Background Knowledge: This book will build on knowledge of farms and animals.
This book helps kids practice:
Talking: This book offers the chance to talk about farm animals.
Reading: Reading happens on two levels: reading the book, and reading the notes within the book.
Playing: Go ahead and play! Make animal noises along with the characters. Have fun!
Extend the book with an animal game!
Print out this die template and color it with different animal pictures. If you prefer, practice letter knowledge and vocabulary by writing out the names of the animals instead.
Cut out the shape, and fold along the edges of the squares. The black pieces make tabs that can be glued or adhered with double-stick tape.
Feel free to print on stiff paper or card stock if you wish. That said, I only used regular cellophane tape on normal computer paper, and it worked just fine for me.
Now roll the die and make the sound of the animal it lands on! You can also pretend to be that animal.
Practice making fun sounds while learning about new instruments. Emma Garcia shows unique instruments making interesting melodies which is the perfect introduction to music that will be sure to get you moving.
This books builds:
Vocabulary – learning new words to express familiar sounds
Background knowledge – knowing the names of instruments and how to hold them
Print awareness – repetitive words in bold type
This book helps kids practice:
Reading – Notice the repetitive words in bold print.
Playing – Movement and imagination go hand in hand. Practice playing the instruments in the air: air guitar, air drumming, shaking your hands, etc.
Talking – Name the instruments you know, what sounds do they make? Try repeating some of the sequences listed in the story.
Extend the book by making up your own melody.
Try making different sounds and have someone repeat. Also play with your own instruments. If you don't have any, try making some out of household items such as:
drum – use a box, pot, or bowl
castanets – use two spoons
guitar – stretch rubber bands over an empty tissue box
We recommend the blog KinderArt for even more easy musical ideas!
Ten on a Twig by Lo Cole is a delightful, interactive concept book that helps your child learn to count backwards from 10-1.
Ten colorful birds are lined up on a twig, from largest to smallest, across graduated pages. With each turn of a page, a piece of the twig snaps off, and one of the birds falls with it. The fallen birds can be seen marching along the bottom of the pages, each carrying their piece of twig.
Skills
Phonological Awareness - The (mostly) rhyming text helps your child develop Phonological Awareness, hearing the smaller parts in words, which will be a big help with sounding out words when learning to read.
Background Knowledge – Learning to count back from 10-1 (the first step in learning to subtract) along with the graduated sized birds (largest to smallest), help your child understand size and number relationships and can contribute to your child's background knowledge, or everything they know before learning to read. The more they know, the easier it will be to understand what they read.
Print Awareness – The repeated word “SNAP,” and the numerals, are in a large, bold font, colored to match the birds. This accentuates the word/numerals and aids with your child's print awareness, knowing that print has meaning.
Practices
Playing As you are reading, be sure to run your finger under the word “SNAP” every time it appears and have your child snap their fingers (or clap) and call out “snap!” with you. This involvement in the story is enjoyable for your child and helps him/her develop a love for reading.
Writing Having your child turn the graduated pages helps to develop the muscles they will use later for writing.
Talking Talk about the pictures - talk about the different sizes of the birds; the way the colors of the word “SNAP” and the numerals match the colors of the birds; ask questions, such as: “Where do you think the birds are going with their pieces of twig?” and “What do you think the birds will do with the pieces of twigs?”
Make a Bird Feeder!
February is National Bird Feeding month, so extend the book further by making a super simple bird feeder! All you need is:
a pipe cleaner (chenille stem), or shoe lace
some round whole grain oat cereal. You can even add apple slices to your feeder!
Make a small loop at one end of a pipe cleaner (or tie a triple knot on the end of a shoelace) so the cereal won't fall off.
Children thread the cereal (and apple slices, if used) onto the pipe cleaner (or shoelace). Threading the cereal is another way to help develop the muscles later needed for writing!
Make a loop at the other end of the pipe cleaner (or knot at the other end of the shoelace).
Hang the feeder in a tree for your bird friends to enjoy!
Want more? Here are some simple rhymes and fingerplays we like to pair with this book:
1: Try the 5 Little Chickadees fingerplay from our friends at Skits-O-Mania.com about one of the birds that stay in Indiana all year round, the chickadee.
To begin, have your child hold up five fingers to represent the 5 chickadees, then lower one finger at a time as the birds fly away. Fingerplays are good for developing fine motor skills and the rhyming text promotes phonological awareness.
2: Listen to some counting songs found on Hoopla! Try Numbers and Counting by Nashville Kids.
What could be better than a sled ride in the snow? Maybe being joined by some unexpected creatures along the way! Before you know it there is a bunny, snowman, a moose joining in the fun.
This book will help your child build pre-reading skills:
Print awareness
Narrative skills
Vocabulary
And will help them practice:
Reading
Talking
Extend this book with a snowman & bunny snowflake!
We found this great video tutorial for a craft that's perfect for Go, Sled! Go! Check it out:
You will need:
square piece of paper
scissors
markers or crayons
Directions:
Fold the square paper twice, then fold into a triangle.
Draw half a snowman and half a bunny and cut it out.
This charming story offers a delightful twist on the classic Old MacDonald tale. In this story, Old MacMartian inadvertently welcomes some farm animals onto his UFO! What will happen next? It’s a lively and entertaining adventure that captures the imagination of all ages. We invite you to join in and sing along as you enjoy this fun new interpretation of Old MacDonald!
This story offers a wonderful opportunity for your child to develop their phonological awareness through playful sounds like “gloop glop” and “zerp zap.”
They may find delight in the whimsical illustrations and the words that drift across the pages, which can support their print awareness.
Sharing and discussing the story with your little one about what might happen to poor Old Mac Martian can also encourage the development of their narrative skills and ability to describe events.
This book can also help build important pre-reading practices:
Singing: Sing along with the story!
Reading: Read to your child and have them follow the whimsical text
Playing: Play with the craft below and practice identifying the animals!
Extend the book with a UFO craft and activity!
You will need:
Brown paper lunch bag
Construction paper (gray, white, and yellow or green)
Scissors
Glue
Crayons or Markers
Animal Flashcards (You can find free printables online (we made ours in Canva), or you can use little stuffed animals from home!)
Directions:
- Take the gray construction paper and cut out an oval for the body of the UFO.
- Take the white construction paper and cut out a half oval for the bubble the alien will sit in.
- Take the yellow construction paper and cut out a triangle.
- Take your paper lunch bag and turn it sideways. Glue the gray oval to the center of the bag. Try not to put the glue at the end of the gray oval so that the yellow triangle can fit under it.
- Lastly, take the white half oval and glue it to the top of the gray oval.
- For detail, you can add the legs of the UFO and draw in an alien onto the white half oval.
- Use the flash cards to help your child identify either the animal or the animal sounds. You can either have your child name them as you pull them out of the bag (as though they were on the UFO), or add them to the bag (as though they are boarding the ship) after your child identifies them!
I am a potato is a cute book about a mouse that thinks it is a potato. Kids will have fun reading this silly story - and it'll help them build up their vocabulary, print awareness, and background knowledge skills.
Read the book together and play the game to help them practice reading, talking, and playing. All of these things will get them ready to read on their own!
Play the Is This a Potato? game!
You will need:
A potato (or a picture of a potato)
Random things such as other fruits and vegetables, toys, or household items (or pictures of these things)
Pick up the potato and ask your child “Is this a potato?” Talk about what a potato is and how it's made.
Then pick up another item such as a toy or another food and ask “Is this a potato?” When they answer, ask questions about the item and what they think it is and what it could be. For example, "Is it an animal? No? Okay, then is it a food?"
This helps your child understand what the items around them are and helps with background knowledge - an important early literacy skill!
