For years, I read stories at my library’s preschool story time. Preschool story time followed the school district’s calendar so we usually started our story time year in sync with the school year. A creature of habit, I always liked to kick off story time with books about the alphabet, colors, and counting. There are lots of great books about the alphabet available and I have a hard time picking just 3 or 4 to read at story time. One book that I always skipped was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, and illustrated by Lois Elhert (one of my favorite illustrators!). This is a great book and I love the pictures. However, I never wanted to read because it is supposed to be sung and I have a TERRIBLE singing voice and seriously have a hard time keeping rhythm. Skipping this book was shameful because I knew how awesome it is. Still, I justified it because there other great alphabet stories.
Skip forward a few years and my son’s teacher read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to his preschool class. He loved it! He came home all excited about this book and asked if I would read it to him. So I got a copy from the library. Before reading it at bedtime, I watched the Scholastic animated movie so that I could get the rhythm of the song (okay, I watched it a few times). Bedtime rolled around and I felt ready to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and my son was so happy to be able share a special part of his school day with me. He didn’t care about my bad singing voice and he was thrilled to help me sing the chorus. This book has become a bedtime favorite and we ended up getting our own copy since we did have to return the library’s. We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom again last night, and even though I have been humming it in my head all day, I am so glad that it is part of bedtime favorites rotation of books now 🙂 Get a copy from your public library, or buy it on Amazon here.
I created an Alphabet Worksheet for my son to do. The goal is to draw a line, matching the uppercase and lowercase letters.
I mentioned that there are other great alphabet books I shared at preschool storytime, so if you are curious, some of my favorites are:
–A Busy Creature’s Day Eating by Mo Willems — I love everything by Mo Willems! With his signature humor and all around silliness, Mo takes the reader on an alphabet adventure, documenting the perils of overeating and eating yucky things. Be forewarned, my son loves “V is for vomit” and your child will probably latch onto that part too! Check this out from your local library, or buy it on Amazon here.
–Poor Puppy and Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel — this book is great because it combines learning the alphabet with counting! This books is fairly long, so it might be better for 4-year olds or 3-year olds who can sit still for longer stories. Check this out from your local library, or buy it on Amazon here.
–LMNO Peas by Keith Baker — this story takes the reader alphabetically through all of the different jobs and things that peas can do, starting with acrobatic peas. The pictures are adorable! There are pea sequels, so you can continue the fun 🙂 Check this out from your local library, or buy it on Amazon here.
–Click Clack, Quackity-Quack by Doreen Cronin — another great book from Cronin’s Click Clack series. This is a quick read, so perfect toddlers and preschoolers who can’t sit still very long. The book does such a fantastic job of creating a story out the alphabet and incorporating the phonetic sounds. To top it off, the illustrations are packed with humor!
Check this out from your local library, or buy it on Amazon here.
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