H is for hen

Although I never did letter of the week with Bear - she just absorbed all the letters and sounds with such ease and rapidity - I am trying it in a simple way with J-jo. 

I have a letter "sound drawer" and accompanying Sound Box book out and try to tie in a picture book that ties in with the letter sound.  When I found Hungry Hen, I knew we would do "H is for Hen."

This is a funny story about a hungry fox who watches this hen at the bottom of the hill each day as she pecks her way around and gets fatter.  Each day he thinks, "oh how I would love to eat this hen," and each day he decides to wait one more day so the hen can get fatter.  One day, he finally goes down and, well, I won't ruin the story....

We said and acted out this cute little poem from CanTeach:

What Can a Hen Do?
A hen can lay a big brown egg.
A hen can stand on just one leg.
A hen can run.
A hen can walk.
A hen can say "Bawk, bawk, bawk".
But do you know what a hen can't do?
A hen can't hug like you.

Twiggle Magazine  also has a rhyme we used (I modified it a bit and we only said it for the hen and chicks) and a printable to act out the rhyme. 

"Come my chicks, it's time for bed."
That's what Mother Hen said.
"But first I'll count you just to see,
If you have all come back to me.

Softly touch five children on the head while reciting:
Chick 1, Chick 2, Chick 3, oh dear,
Chick 4, Chick 5, yes, you're all here.


You're the sweetest things alive.
My chicks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5."

And a third rhyme:

Are You Listening?
(Tune: Frere Jacques)
Are you listening, are you listening
To the hen, to the hen?
Hear the hen clucking,
Hear the hen clucking.
Cluck, Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.

Then we did a simple little craft of a hen using shapes (the idea is from here).  I drew the shapes and cut out J-jo's and he helped with the gluing.  Bear did all of her cutting and gluing alone. We added caterpillars that we stamped onto paper using Do A Dot markers.

There's a cute The Little Red Hen story here that Bear read to me and J-jo.

This post linked to stART

 Read.Explore.Learn

 Kids Get Crafty

 Preschool Corner

and What My Child Is Reading