SEPTEMBER

We Sang You Home

• Read: Read the poem “To a Child” and listen to the accompanying song from CD in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: Talk about your first day at home or your first day with your family. Do you remember anything? What does your family remember?
• Sing: What songs do you sing with your family? When do you sing them? Who do you sing them with?
• Write: Together write a love “note” to each other.
• Play: Learn American Sign Language signs for “family,” “love,” “together,” and “play.”
• Math or Science: How many different animals can you find? Count them. Talk about daytime and nighttime. How can you tell the difference from picture to picture?

Rudas: Niño’s Horrendous Hermanitas

• Read: Talk about what the Spanish words mean. Talk about how people use different languages.
• Talk: About what games you play with your brothers or sisters or friends. What do you like to pretend?
• Sing: Make an instrument and then sing a song with it.
• Write: Talk about the shape and style of speech bubbles and how the arrows point to which character is speaking. Have kids draw a character and a speech bubble with their own fun words.
• Play: Play some classic “athletic” songs (The Final Countdown, Chariots of Fire, We Will Rock You, We are the Champions, etc.) and practice movements- marching, running in place, etc.
• Math or Science: What kind of tools do the sisters use? How are they used? What tools do you use every day?

OCTOBER

My Heart Fills with Happiness

• Read: A book that makes you happy.
• Talk: What fills your heart with happiness?
• Sing: “You Are My Sunshine” & “If You’re Happy and You Know It” Use the book to make some new verses. For example, “If you’re happy and you know it, play your drum”.
• Write: Draw a picture of what makes you happy/or what your face looks like when you’re happy.
• Play: Act out actions on each page. Make up your own actions to go along – pretend to play the guitar.
• Math or Science: Talk about what the ingredients – what is used to make — bannock. Have them guess first. And if you can, find some to try?

Good Night, Bat! Good Morning, Squirrel

• Read: The poem “Fall of the Year” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About how words can have different meanings.
• Sing: Sing “Skidamarink a Dink a Dink”
• Write: A note to a friend.
• Play: Try some leaf rubbings by laying paper over leaves and coloring the paper with crayons
• Math or Science: Talk about seasons. What season do you think this is? Why do you think that?

NOVEMBER

Sleep Tight Farm

• Read: “Big Tractor” by Nathan Clement in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About the vegetables and fruits grown on the farm. What does the family in the book do to ready the farm for winter? What do you does your family do to get ready for winter?
• Sing: “Farmer in the Dell”
• Write: Use playdough/clay/etc. to build your own farm. Plant a seed. Pretend to tuck the farm in for winter.
• Play: Vegetable paint stamps
• Math or Science: Find all the vegetables that are orange/red/green. Find all the animals.

Owl Sees Owl

• Read: The poem “Quiet in the Wilderness” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About the colors, animals, and nature that the children see in the pictures (for babies and toddlers); talk about the mirror image of the poem in the book (for preschoolers)
• Sing: Find the song “Nocturnal” by Billy Jonas at your library or online and sing along.
• Write: Your name and think of words of things you like that start with each letter with the help of a grown-up.
• Play: Have a mirror for kids to see themselves like Owl. Make expressions. Pretend to be an owl.
• Math or Science: Talk about nocturnal animals. What animals would you see at night in the woods?

 Thunder Boy Jr.

• Read: Go to the library and ask your librarian about other books on thunder and lightning storms.
• Talk: Ask your family what your name means. Are you named after anyone in your family? Do you have a middle name? What does your last name mean?
• Sing: Make rain/a thunderstorm using hands- start with rubbing hands quietly, then snap, then tap on legs, then clapping.
• Write: Practice writing your name.
• Play: Draw a picture of yourself or act out doing something you love to do
• Math or Science: Talk about differences and similarities between lightning and thunder. Which one is audible and which one is visual? What are some connections between thunder and lightning?

DECEMBER

Tickle My Ears

• Read: The poem, “Advice to Bunnies” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: What do you do to get ready for bed?
• Sing: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or sing a family lullaby together.
• Write: Have a grown-up rub your back and trace shapes or letters on your back. Can you guess which shapes and letters they are?
• Play: Act out the book’s motions and actions while someone reads the book. Bring favorite toy/blanket to story time.
• Math or Science: Talk about textures. What do you cuddle with at night? Is it hard or soft? Bring other items and discuss textures.

First Snow

• Read: The poem, “Cherry Tree.” Read another book that involves prepositions/placement of objects such as Rosie’s Walk.
• Talk: About how to make a snowman. What other things do you make in the snow? Snow angels? Snow castles?
• Sing: Going on a Bear Hunt – talk about prepositions.
• Write: Your name in the snow or in your own “snow” using sand.
• Play: Pretend to roll a snowball.
• Math or Science: Bring a snowball inside let it melt in a bowl or cup. Talk about how it turns to water. How long does it take the snowball to melt? Is it a different size? Shape?

JANUARY

Music Is…

• Read: “Snowfall” and listen to the song on the accompanying CD in Goodnight Songs
• Talk About opposites.
• Sing: Pick a song. Sing it fast. Sing it slow. Sing it loudly and quietly.
• Write: Listen to music and draw a picture of what you hear using colors and shapes.
• Play: Dance to your favorite music.
• Math or Science: Talk about how you can make music with your mouth or your hands. What other ways can you make music with your body?

Marta Big and Small

• Read: Pick out the Spanish words in the book. Practice saying them together. Look at the included glossary.
• Talk: Revisit the idea of opposites. Introduce the idea of comparatives ­such as “bigger” or “smaller”. Compare your child to things in the room. Ask: What are bigger than? What are you smaller than?
• Sing: “This is Big, Big, Big”. If you don’t know it, find it on the Jbrary Youtube channel.
• Write: Different sizes of letters, shapes, or squiggles.
• Play: Pretend to be the different animals in the book.
• Math or Science: Scavenger hunt – find something big. Find something small. Find something bigger or smaller than the objects you found.

1 Big Salad

• Read: “Winter Adventure” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About trying new foods. Try some of the foods in the book that are new to you.
• Sing:  “Apples and Bananas” by Rafi. Look for other versions of the song online or at the library.
• Write: Trace numbers with your fingers. Count with your fingers. Or, write a grocery list together
• Play: Provide kids with printed out pictures or magazine pictures. Have kids add their own drawing to make an animal. Or, make faces with cut up pieces of fruit – blueberry eyes, orange slice mouth.
• Math or Science: Make the salad and salad dressing in the book or make a recipe of your own. Talk about measurements. How much of each ingredient do you use for the recipe?

FEBRUARY

Old Dog Baby Baby

• Read: “The Kitten’s” Dream” from Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About pets. Do you have any pets in your family? What is your favorite kind of pet?
• Sing: “BINGO” or other dog song
• Write: Draw a picture of your dream pet.
• Play: Act out how to approach an animal. How would you approach a family pet? An animal or pet that is new to you? Who should you ask for permission to approach a pet?
• Math or Science: Talk about life cycles and animal names. How are puppies different from dogs, kittens different from cats.

Looking for Bongo

• Read: In the book, what do you think Bongo is? Can you find clues in the pictures or words that help you guess what Bongo is?
• Talk: Do you have a favorite stuffed animal? What kind of animal is it? How did you get it? What do you call it? What can you do with a stuffed animal that you can’t do with a live animal?
• Sing:  “Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?”
• Write: Draw a picture of your family. Who is in your family?
• Play: Hide a toy and work together to find it.
• Math or Science: Recreate the booby trap at the end of the book. Or, try making your own pretend way to catch someone.

MARCH

Babies Don’t Walk, They Ride!

• Read: When you’re out and about, at the places like we see in the story, what words can you find?
• Talk: Talk about what other things have wheels. Find things around you that can roll.
• Sing: The Wheels on the Bus.
• Write: Draw a picture of what you see when you’re out and about.
• Play: Play with a baby doll/stuffed animal- take it for a walk or a ride.
• Math or Science: On each page, count the babies, count windows, and count the wheels.

Rescue Squad 9

• Read: As you read, explore print awareness. Ask the children how they know which direction the pages should go.
• Talk: About how loud noises can be scary, but remind children that it means people are helping others. Encourage them to look for helpers.
• Sing: A song about the weather, the ocean or helpers.
• Write: Trace the safety gear on the end papers of the book.
• Play: Reenact the story. Use toy boats or other objects you can pretend are boats.
• Math or Science: Discuss water science and safety. Look at the information in the back of the book.

The Airport Book

• Read: As you read, pay special attention to repeating characters from page to page. For example, where is monkey? How does monkey’s journey differ from the family’s journey? How about other people on the plane?
• Talk: About other things that fly.
• Sing: Sing, listen to, or watch “The Airplane Song” by Laurie Berkner and do the actions.
• Write: Write a plane ticket, make a passport.
• Play: Line up chairs to pretend you’re on an airplane! Discuss airplane safety.
• Math or Science: With a grown-up make and play with a paper airplane. Experiment with different shapes, sizes and weights. How can you get your plane to go further or faster?

APRIL:

Snail & Worm

• Read: “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About the humor of the book. Why is it funny? Talk about perspective.
• Sing: A song very slowly then very quickly. Think about how Snail and Worm move.
• Write: Draw a favorite activity you like to do with a friend or a favorite thing you like about a friend.
• Play: A guessing game. Describe something then see how many clues it takes to guess the object. Let everyone have a turn describing as well as guessing.
• Math or Science: Look for snails, worms, rocks, and twigs outside. Explore other nature objects that you see outside.

Alan’s Big Scary Teeth

• Read: A silly poem in Goodnight Songs, like “Bunny Jig”
• Talk: About false teeth. Ask the child(ren) if they know anyone who has false teeth.
• Sing: The Rafi song: Brush Your Teeth; if you don’t know it, look at the library or find a video on YouTube.
• Write: Draw a new set of teeth for Alan. Use your own Alan drawing or this activity sheet.
• Play: Pretend to brush your teeth and practice your scary face like Alan does!
• Math or Science: Look for shapes throughout the book (Alan’s teeth are triangles). Look around you for shapes. How many sides do the different shapes have?

MAY

When Spring Comes

• Read: The poem “Love Song of the Little Bear” & “The Song of the Tiny Cat” in Goodnight Songs
• Talk: About the senses. What does spring sound, smell, look, taste, or feel like?
• Sing: A song or read a rhyme about spring.
• Write: Look at the pictures of the book. Pick your favorite page. Draw a picture of what you like about it. Have a grown-up help you write about that picture.
• Play: Outside: Blow bubbles. Play in the mud. Jump in puddles.
• Math or Science: Germinate a bean seed in a paper towel. See how many days it takes to begin to grow. Talk about roots and water. Go outside to look at plants growing.

Everyday Birds

• Read: As you read, let the child(ren) see if they can guess the name of the bird before you say it.
• Talk: Adults, pick a bird or two from the back of the book and talk in more detail about those birds.
• Sing: Listen to birdcalls; try to imitate some of them.
• Write: Use your finger to trace the birds in the book.
• Play: What sounds do birds make? Can you make those sounds, too? Can you tap like a woodpecker? Or honk like a goose?
• Math or Science: Compare and contrast the different types of birds. What do they have in common and what is different? Wings. Beaks. Colors. Nests.

A Morning with Grandpa

• Read: A Morning with Grandpa. Can you find letters or words that you recognize in the book?
• Talk: About body control. Talk about flexibility, balance, and movement. Are there things that child(ren) are better at and grownups are better at?
• Sing: Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
• Write: Draw a picture of what you like to do with one of your favorite grown-ups.
• Play: Try some of Gong Gong’s tai chi motions and Mei Mei’s yoga poses.
• Math or Science: Try to balance on one foot or in one of the yoga poses. How long can you stand or stay in pose without falling. What helps you to stay upright and balanced?