We skipped our opening song this morning because "M" came back to Story Hour and noticed that we have a new oval rug on our floor. She immediately started pointing out the letters in her name as well as her sister's, and then we named all of the animals that were pictured with the alphabet letters, and some of them were unfamiliar ones.
Next we discussed the germs I had drawn on the board and "M" decided to draw an additional one.
We talked about what happens when you get sick, how you feel and why you get sick. Then we read the book,
Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson. "M" knew right away that your friends can't be around you when you're sick, even though all of Bear's friends came to take care of him. But she was right in her thinking by the end of the story.
At the craft table we applied hand sanitizer with glitter mixed in to our hands so we could "see" the germs on our hands and how they spread when we touched something [enlarge the plate below and you can see them also].
When we washed our hands we learned to do it to the following song [to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat]:
Wash, wash, wash our hands,
Sing the hand wash song.
Rub and scrub and scrub and rub,
Germs go down the drain. Hey!
This song needs to be sung twice while scrubbing your hands with soap and warm water, remembering to clean between your fingers and also scrub your nails.
Then we made a paper plate face, traced our hand and part of our arm, glued a tissue to the hand and we had a "puppet" to show how to cover a sneeze with a tissue. We also talked about why we then throw that tissue away. We also discussed sneezing/coughing into your elbow when no tissues are available. On the back of the plate we glued the following saying as a reminder:
Cover your cough,
Cover your sneeze,
So we can all
Stay healthy, please!
Our final book was Llama Llama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney. This book allowed us to talk more about how we feel when we're sick and what brings us some comfort.
I had several handouts for our take-home folder that related to today's lesson and "M" even took an extra copy of each so she could teach her friend.
Please come and join us on Thursday, March 19 for a lesson about BEARS!
Children's Librarian,
Mitzi
