Owl Babies

 One of my very favorite books to read during the first week of school is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.  It has just enough drama to hook little ones who have very short attention spans at the beginning of the year.  You know how it is... "Please stop touching her hair!" "No, it's not time to go home... only three more hours!" or my personal favorite "No, we do not do somersaults on the rug!"  The illustrations are gorgeous, so that helps too!

 In case you haven't read this one yet, it is about three baby owls who wake up in the middle of the night to discover that their Owl Mother is gone.  Sarah, Percy and Bill take turns comforting each other, and eventually Owl Mother returns, of course.  The refrain "I want my mommy!" is repeated over and over, and the kids love to join in to help you read it.  Of course, the idea of missing mommy is one that the kids relate to during their first few days in a new, "scary" big kid school.

I always like to do a few easy art projects at the beginning of the year.  You never know what skills your group has, so you want something that is simple.  Your walls are empty, so you need something cute... amirite?

Before we get started on the art projects, can we take a second to look at how freaking adorable baby owls are?  I can't stand it!

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Here are the super sweet owl babies that my para made with the kids.  She is so crafty... love it!

Sooo apparently I forgot to take an "after" picture.  This one doesn't show the kid quotes and activity description that I added to the top of the display afterwards.  I asked a few littles what their favorite part of the book was, typed it up and slapped it on there.  Done!

Here are some close-ups of a few of my favorites.  I love how they all look a little different.

 Are you freaking kidding me?  Look at all that cuteness.  I absolutely hated to take them down.

Materials 

Black, brown, orange and yellow construction paper, cotton balls

Directions

1.Cut black construction paper in half

2.  Cut out branch shapes, feet, beaks and eyes

3.  Model for the how to glue each part on in this order: branch, feet, cotton balls, eyes, beak
4.  Add a few tiny scraps of black paper to the cotton balls to give your owls a little more dimension.

5.  Let them dry and enjoy!

Here are a few other owl crafts and activities that I love...

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I heart this free interactive story book!  Check it out {here}

I am also obsessed with this animated version of the book.  It is so wonderfully animated and true to the story.  The kids always beg me to play it "just one more time?  Pleeaseeee?"

We also love to act out the text with finger puppets.  On the playground we practice silently swooping through the forest, just like Owl Mother.  I love these activities because they enjoy the text on a whole new level and pick up on the vocabulary so well.

Currently November

I am linking up with Farley for Currently... I might be a bunch of a few days late to the party but it's better than not showing up at all, right?

Listening

Okay so things are about to get a little bit dorky here for a second... Mr. Man and I are both obsessed with a new podcast called Serial.  It is some of the best journalism I have ever heard and I am officially hooked.  I told my best friend to listen to it during a car trip today and she send me this text 6 hours later:

If you are into things like Dateline or Law and Order I highly suggest checking it out!

Loving

I always love Fall.  But today I am extra head over heels in love with Fall.  It is Veteran's Day, which means that I am feeling extra patriotic and very thankful to those who keep us safe every single day.  It also means that I have the day off (our second day off since school started) and who wouldn't be happy with that?

I spent the day sleeping in, then puttering around my house organizing, cooking and crossing things off my mile long to do list.  The only time I left my house today was to grab coffee and go for a quick walk, and I am totally okay with that!

Thinking

A bunch of my family members are coming for Thanksgiving and I am super giddy and excited.  However, I sort of just realized that not only do we not have enough beds, we also don't have enough towels, chairs or table space.  Sooo I may have just ordered an air mattress and a whole bunch of towels and washcloths from Amazon.  I love you, Amazon, for your super fast shipping and for saving my butt yet again.

Wanting

Wine and chocolate.  Enough said.  I am trying to avoid both of them, but they have been calling my name all night.  I'm trying to ignore them but they are getting louder and louder!

Needing

Let's do a little real talk for a second.  My kitchen is ugly.  U-G-L-Y.  

See? I told you it's ugly!  It's a whole lot of 1950's turquoise laminate ugliness that has never been updated.  We are talking 61 years and noooo updates.  We are saving all of our pennies up to pay for a new kitchen, but I would sure love it if HGTV wanted to help us out and make it gorgeous.  Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Reading

I love, love, love to read.  During the summer I always read up a storm because it is oh so hard to get through a book during the school year.  Usually I climb into bed at night and get through about three pages before I zonk out.  Gillian Flynn, though, has kept this tired teacher up way too late because her books are positively addictive!  She is best known for Gone Girl, but my favorite was Sharp Objects.  I finished all three of her books and I'm dying for another one. Can you hear me, Gillian?  I need more!