School!

Every year at the first fall session, we have a few sad moments when I have to explain that to a child that some of their friends won’t be coming today because they go to school now. This year, I decided to try and help that transition by doing a whole storytime theme on school.

The Plan

Books

Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Cousins
Mouse’s First Day of School by Lauren Thompson
Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
Wow, School! by Robert Neubecker

Extension Activities

Song: “Come to School” (Tune: Farmer in the Dell)
We like to come to school
We like to come to school
Our school is such a happy place
We like to come to school
Credit: Preschool Education

Flannelboard Rhyme/Story: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

Flannelboard Song: “Wheels on the Bus”

Fingerplay: “Way Up High”
Way up high in the apple tree
I saw two apples smiling at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
Down came the apples…
And mmm, they were good!
Credit: Childhood

Craft

How It Went

Thursday Morning
A pretty successful storytime theme! Of course, it was a bit hairy behaviorally because we had been on a storytime break for four whole weeks. I had to use a lot of my filler activities to shake out a lot of sillies. The favorite book of this group was “Mouse’s First Day of School.”

Friday morning
My daycare storytime LOVED this theme! The kids had a great time through all of the books, and one of their teachers stopped to take pictures during the class because the kids were having such a great time. Our craft was the best thing ever for everyone! I had a ton of kids drawing people on their buses, putting animals as passengers, and even one little girl who had her animals eat the people on her bus. This will remain one of my most favorite sessions with this group!