Early Literacy Tip: In books that feature a particular pattern with only one word changed, ask your child to fill in the new word. For example, in Open This Little Book, each animal opens “a little _____ book,” with a different color each time, based on the color of the book’s cover. Using context clues to decipher new words is an important early literacy skill.

This week we celebrated the letter O at storytime. We started by drawing the letter O together in the air (the kids really enjoyed this!). I also talked about how two O’s together making the sound “oo,” and we spent a minute saying fun “OO” words together as I wrote them on my whiteboard: BOO! Coo, Moo, etc. We also talked about words beginning with O (the kids suggested octopus, and I pulled an owl and an octagon out of my bag, and demonstrated an ocarina).

Here’s the rest of what we did:

Books:

Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier; illustrated by Suzy Lee

I love to share books that surprise kids with unusual formats (pop-ups, books that open vertically, etc.) This book features a series of increasingly smaller books with different colored covers: Ladybug opens a little green book and reads about Frog, who opens a little orange book and reads about Rabbit, etc. The kids enjoyed calling out the colors of each book.

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell; illustrated by Patrick Benson

This is one of my all-time favorite picture books: the sweet story of three baby owls waiting for their mother to return. It’s beautifully written and illustrated, and the emotions are so relatable. I especially love the part where the baby owls close their owl eyes and wish their owl mother would come “And she came. Soft and silent, she swooped through the trees to Sarah and Percy and Bill.” The kids enjoyed chiming in on the repeated “I want my Mommy!” line.

One-Osaurus, Two-Osaurus by Kim Norman; illustrated by Pierre Collet-Derby

In these storytimes about letters, I like to showcase words that demonstrate how letters don’t always sound the way you expect them to. I think it’s important for kids to know that English isn’t always predictable, so that when they are learning to read later on, they are prepared for surprises that are part of the language itself and not any reflection on their reading ability. So, I wanted to share a picture book featuring the word “one,” which is one of the strangest o-words. This is also a fun, rhyming picture book about dinosaurs hiding, in what turns out to be a game of hide-and-seek.

Octopants by Suzy Senior; illustrated by Claire Powell

This rhyming picture book got lots of laughs. It’s about an octopus trying to buy underpants. He can’t find any, and gets increasingly frustrated, until a shopkeeper points out that his legs are really arms, and all he really needs is an octo-sweater. The page with all the fish in underpants is hilarious!

Songs & Activities:

These Are My Glasses by Laurie Berkner

We sang this after reading Open This Little Book. I use a lot of Laurie Berkner songs, but this one is my all-time favorite. Even older kids, who are sometimes reluctant to participate in action songs, enjoy doing this one.

These are my glasses,
This is my book.
I put on my glasses
And open up the book
Then I read, read, read,
And I look, look, look.
I take off my glasses,
And, WHOOP!, close up the book!

The Waves on the Ocean

We sang this with the parachute in Outdoor Musical Storytime. I put a fish puppet on the parachute and we waved it up and down. It’s to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.

The waves on the ocean go up and down,
Up and down,
Up and down.
The waves on the ocean go up and down,
All day long!

Simon Says

We played a couple of rounds of Simon Says after reading One-osaurus, Two-osaurus, which ends with the dinosaurs playing the game. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a classic childhood game where you ask the kids to do a particular action, but only when you start by saying, “Simon Says.”

For example: if you say, “Simon Says, ‘touch your nose,'” they should touch their noses, but if you just say, “touch your ear,” they shouldn’t do anything. It’s a fun listening challenge, and lot of the kids at storytime had never played it before.

Octopus’ Garden by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)

We sang this as our instrument play-along at the end.

[C] I’d like to be
[Am] Under the sea,
[F] In an octopus’ garden
In the [G] shade.

[C] He’d let us in,
[Am] Knows where we’ve been,
[F] In his octopus’ garden
In the [G] shade.

[Am] I’d ask my friends
To come and see
[F] An octopus’ [G] garden
With me.

[C] I’d like to be
[Am] Under the sea,
[F] In an octopus’ garden
In the [G] shade.

[C] We would be warm
[Am] Below the storm,
[F] In our little hideaway
Beneath the [G] waves.

[C] Resting our head
[Am] On the seabed,
[F] In an octopus’ garden
Near a [G] cave.

[Am] We would sing
And dance around,
[F] Because we know
We [G] can’t be found.

[C] I’d like to be
[Am] Under the sea,
In an [F] octopus’ garden
In the [G] shade.

[C] We would shout,
[Am] And swim about
[F] The coral that lies
Beneath the [G] waves.

[C] Oh, what joy
[Am] For every girl and boy,
[F] Knowing they’re happy
And they’re [G] safe.

[Am] We would be so happy
You and me,
[F] No one there to tell us
[G] What to do.

[C] I’d like to be
[Am] Under the sea,
[F] In an octopus’ garden
With [G] you.

[F] In an octopus’ garden
With you.
[F] In an octopus’ garden
With [G] you.

Stay & Play: Cup Stamping

This was a simple, if messy, Stay & Play. I just put out plastic trays, and added a few different colors of tempera paint to each one. I gave each child a piece of white paper and a paper cup, and explained that they could dip either the top or the bottom of the cup in the paint and stamp it on the paper to make an “O” shape. Some of them just used the cups as paintbrushes, which got very messy, but they had a wonderful time!

Do you have any favorite books or songs featuring the letter O? Please share them in the comments below.