Dig Into Reading – Thrive After Three

Category: Dig Into Reading

Ten Little Caterpillars

Posted on April 16, 2014May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I always have a Lois Ehlert book in my To Be Made Pile! Her stories are so rich and adaptable to different ages. I wanted to make a Caterpillar-to-Butterfly activity to share with the children after reading the story. I could use these in different ways with different groups of children. I know some of the children will never be able to sit through 10, so I wanted to make them all and mix them up when necessary. I made 10 butterfly shapes that fold in half. I used felt/puffy paint to glue/draw a caterpillar on the front of each, then colored in the accompanying butterfly or moth:

I used the last two pages of her book as a template:

Ten Little Caterpillars (3) — 1-5 caterpillars

Ten Little Caterpillars (4) — 1-5 butterflies/moths

Ten Little Caterpillars (5) — 6-10 caterpillars

Ten Little Caterpillars (1) — 6-10 butterflies/moths

Lisa over at Libraryland is hosting this week’s Flannel Friday. Be sure to check out the weekly roundup!

(Fill-in-the-Blank)’s Colorful Day

Posted on June 26, 2013 by mrsshaia

These stories are inspired by Read It Again and The Wielded Pen. These stories are variations of Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd.

I’ll be using Dino’s Colorful Day for the Dig Into Reading theme this summer. You can tell the children that brachiosaurus were plant eaters. Choose a color and ask them what kinds of foods the dinosaur could eat that was that color. (I’ve included a list of colored foods below.) Here’s a little rhyme you can use as you place each color on him:

I’m a great big dinosaur
I eat plants, I’m an herbivore.
I love food, but I have none,
So step right up and give me some.

You can cut out Mouse and do a “Lunch by Denise Fleming” type of story using the same colorful circles.

I’m a little mousie, light and furry.
I’m always in such a hurry.
Look at the clock it’s time for lunch.
Now give me something that I can munch.

Or, you can use Bunny’s Colorful Day and use spring flowers. This is a great vocabulary-building exercise.

I’m a little bunny and I love to hop.
When I start, it’s hard to stop.
But when it comes to flowers I like to dwell.
So bring me something that I can smell.

What is Bridget Reading? featured a similar story in last week’s Flannel Friday roundup of I Know a Wee Piggy. For more flannel ideas check out Bridget’s blog or Flannel Friday.

Color	Food	Plant
red	berries, apple, cherries, cranberries	barberry, rose, poppy
blue	berries, potatoes	wild indigo
gray	oysters, mushrooms	wormwood
yellow	spaghetti, squash, honey, corn, lemongrass, pineapple	daisy, sunflower, daffodil
pink	watermelon, rhubarb, grapefruit	magnolia, peony
purple	eggplant, cabbage, plum, blackberries	violet, lavender, hyacinth
black	sesame seeds, beans, seaweed	black swan, iris, queen of night tulips
brown	whole wheat pasta, toast, almonds	sycamore “helicopter” seeds
orange	nectarines, papayas, cantaloupe, mango, carrots	lion’s tail, aloe, day lily, Chinese lanterns
green	asparagus, avocado, celery, bok choy, broccoli, cucumber, edamame, fennel, honeydew, kale, spinach	fern, gingko
white	cauliflower, tofu, coconut, onion, turnip	magnolia, laurel

What Do You See?

Posted on May 30, 2013January 26, 2015 by mrsshaia

I try to incorporate a “What Do You See” song into every season. The children love the melody, the predictive text, and that they can “read” along with me. Of course these are all inspired by Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I use this story in the beginning of the year, so children know what to expect. Greg & Steve wrote a song to accompany the book:

Kimmy Schwimmy wrote a dinosaur song similar called Red Brontosaurus that I’m going to use weekly in storytime for the Dig Into Reading theme:

You can use this same melody to create your own. Here are some ideas you can use throughout the year:

Red Brontosaurus what do you see

Red brontosaurus booklet craft

Jack o lantern what do you see

Jackolantern booklet craft

Scarecrow what do you see

Scarecrow booklet craft

Menorah What Do You See

Santa What Do You See

Santa booklet craft

Bunny what do you see

Bunny booklet craft

Red car what do you see

Red car booklet craft

For other storytime ideas check out Read It Again, or Flannel Friday.

Do you have any What Do You See stories that I missed?

Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Are You Behind the (Color) Door?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by mrsshaia

These cute little dinosaurs have been all over Flannel Friday, especially with the upcoming summer reading theme. Here’s an activity to incorporate into your weekly storytime for the Dig Into Reading theme:

Dinosaur, Dinosaur,

Are you behind the (insert color here) door?

The patterns for the dinosaurs can be found here.

For more flannel ideas check out Trails & Tales, she’s hosting Flannel Friday this week.

Archaeological Dig

Posted on April 21, 2013July 30, 2013 by mrsshaia

In preparation for this summer’s Dig Into Reading theme, I’m doing an Archaeological Club for school aged children. I setup my “digs” to bring to school visits to ramp up the program. It did take some prep work, but I think it will be well worth the effort!

First, you’ll need chicken wings to use as “dinosaur bones.” There are plenty of recipes to prepare the bones for use online. Basically you boil the bones to get all the meat off, then bleach them and let them dry overnight.

Then you’ll need to purchase transparent shoe boxes, sand, soil (organic: has no chemicals), and rocks. I went to the dollar store to find small plastic dinosaurs. And, as I was poking around Michael’s Craft Store, I happened upon Safari Ltd’s Dino Skull Toob on clearance. I picked up a tube to use for this project and I think the kids will love them! (I also found a set of soliders and native Americans to use.)

I labeled each shoe box with North/South/East/West.

I divided the dinos and skulls into 6 tubs by continent/country:

Continent	Africa
Cretaceous	Nigersaurus
Jurassic	Brachiosaurus

Continent	North America
Cretaceous	Dracorex
Jurassic	Diplodocus & Dilophosaurus

Continent	South America
1700s	Native Americans
Cretaceous	Carnotaurus

Countries	Mongolia & China
Cretaceous	Velociraptor & Oviraptor
Jurassic	Dilophosaurus

Continent	North America
1831-1865	Civil War Soldiers
Cretaceous	T-Rex & Triceratops

Continent	North America
Cretaceous	Triceratops & Parasaurolophus
Jurassic	Brachiosaurus

I poured a layer of sand down first (so nothing peeks through), then placed the bottom layer together.

I added sand on top, then a layer of rock.

I added the upper layer, then covered with soil. I put three strips of tape to mimic the handout so children will excavate one section at a time.

I labeled each lid with the corresponding number and continent/country.

Here are the six “digs” ready to be excavated! Here’s a Shoe Box Excavation handout you can use for the children.

Here are the archeological tool kits for each excavation team. (Brush, tweezers, sifter, Q-tips)

Shape By Shape

Posted on April 18, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I’ve been staring at Shape By Shape by Suse MacDonald for a couple of months thinking about how to turn this into a flannel story. I finally did it, and I’m going to go find Go Away Big Green Monster and do the same! This didn’t take too much time, and I only needed flannel sheets, scissors, masking tape and a Sharpie. I worked sheet to sheet so everything would line up. I used the masking tape to put a strip on the back of each sheet with the words so I wouldn’t forget. Here it is:

Do you know what I am? I lived a long, long time ago.

I had round eyes…

lots of sharp teeth…

a very wide mouth…

a fierce glance…

an oh-so-smooth head…

and many, many scales.

Have you guessed? I was the biggest dinosaur ever…

a Brachiosaurus!

The finished dinosaur measures about three feet wide. I can’t wait to use this with the summer group.

For more flannel ideas, check out Miss Courtney Meets Bobo. Or visit Flannel Friday to see how to participate.

Dino Bites!

Posted on April 11, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I’m gearing up for summer reading and going through my dinosaur books to see what I can flannelize. (I also use these stories to promote the summer reading programs at preschools.) My new favorite is Dino Bites by Algy Craig Hall. I guess I’ve raised the bar too high with my stories lately. The kids always want a “magic” story. So, I stretched my imagination to come up with a little magic for this one. First, I created the four animals in the story and painted them.

Introducing Dinosaur, Lunch, Snack, and Bite.

When I tell the story, I’ll start with the dragonfly and hide him in my hand while pull out dragonfly head hiding behind the little blue dinosaur (see my trick below). Here’s Bite, Snap, and Crunch. Soon the big t-rex will be the only dino on the board.

Flip the dinosaur over when the bite buzzed, the snack hopped, the lunch wriggled, and the dinosaur…

excused himself.

I sewed each tail to the dinosaur and added a transparent Velcro tab so it sticks under the dino when I put him on the board. I also sewed the circular stomachs together so when I pull on the dragonfly each animal comes out of the t-rex’s mouth.

For other flannel ideas check out Read Sing Play. She’s hosting Flannel Friday this week.

Duck! Rabbit!

Posted on April 4, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

This is the time of year I read Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Duck! Rabbit! to every child in a fifty-mile radius! I just love this story. I decided to make a flannel for this story so I can mix up my programs with a book and a flannel. It didn’t take much time or felt, and the kids love it!

Here’s the original book.

Here’s the part where the duck eats bread and the rabbit eats a carrot.

This is when the duck hides in the swamp and the rabbit hides in the grass.

This is when the duck is drinking water and the rabbit is so hot, he’s dunking his ears to cool off.

I like to use my lap board to make the duck fly and the rabbit hop. And the kids love putting on their binoculars to get a closer look!

My favorite part is the last page where I say, “Oh look. I’ve found an anteater.” The children don’t need any prompting to yell out, “That’s not an anteater, that’s a dinosaur!” I wrote a sequel called Anteater! Brachiosaurus! if you’re interested. I’ll be using it for the summer reading program this year, and for lots of dinosaur storytimes in the future.

Here’s an easy craft to go along with the story:

For more flannel ideas check out In the Children’s Room blog. Or visit Flannel Friday.

Anteater! Brachiosaurus!

Posted on February 27, 2013May 4, 2014 by mrsshaia

I’ve been waiting for Amy Krouse Rosenthal to make a sequel to Duck! Rabbit! I just keep waiting and waiting, so I decided to write my own to use with this summer’s theme Dig Into Reading. I like to use my lap board so I can have the animal stomp. Here it is:

Anteater! Brachiosaurus!

Hey look, it’s an anteater!
It’s not an anteater, it’s a brachiosaurus.

Listen. It said, “Hola.” It’s an anteater. They live in South America.
No. It said, “Hello,” It’s a brachiosaurus. They lived in North America.

(Shake lap board)

Look. It’s stomping. It’s definitely an anteater.
No, it’s stomping. It’s definitely a brachiosaurus.

(Make slurping and growling noises)

Listen. It’s eating ants and termites. It’s an anteater.
No, it’s growling. It’s a brachiosaurus.

Look. It’s an anteater licking water from the shrub.
That’s not an anteater that’s a brachiosaurus eating leaves from the ginkgo tree.

Listen. I hear a jaguar growling. It’s coming for the anteater!
No, it’s a pack of Allosauruses coming for the brachiosaurus!

Oh, great. It was scared off.

What are we going to do now?

I don’t know what do you want to do now?

Oh look, it’s a squirrel.

That’s not a squirrel, it’s a swan!

The End.

For the fall I’ll make a sequel to use for a squirrel theme. Stay tuned!

For more Dig Into Reading flannel ideas, check out Lisa’s Libraryland. She’s hosting the Dig Into Reading Flannel Friday this week.