It's a Bird!

Our fine feathered friends--birds--was the theme for today. Our books were Birds, by Kevin Henkes, and The Baby Beebee Bird, by Diane Massie. This is an old title in a new edition, with illustrations by Steven Kellogg. It's a fun book to read aloud, because the baby beebee bird says "beebee bobbi beebee bobbi" over and over and over, and the kids can join in. But beware! I read this book to two Head Start classes back to back and nearly lost my voice.

I also told the story of Old Mother Hubbard on the flannelboard. There are many verses to this old rhyme, and some of them sound a little odd to modern ears. "She went to the hosier's to buy him some hose," "she went to the fishmonger to buy him some fish," and even "she went to the tavern to buy him some beer." ! But the kids thoroughly enjoy the antics of Old Mother Hubbard's dog, who stands on his head, sits in a chair, plays the flute, and reads the news.

We made birds, of course, and the birds look like this:

The body is cut out of colored scrapbook paper. (I found a good deal on scrapbook paper at Ross.) The beak is just a little piece of construction paper glued on.

The wings are made by coloring a half-sheet of paper, then fan folding it and inserting through a slit cut in the bird's body.

The children had fun scribbling all over the paper with makers and crayons. They needed help with folding though. Fan folding is a bit tricky, even for some grown-ups. But the kids could push the paper through the slit and fan out the wings. Then just punch a hole and thread a piece of yarn through, and you have a pretty little bird.