Materials
* September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month.
1. Read a book about the library, such as Check It Out!: The Book About
Libraries by Gail Gibbons.
2. Talk to the children about the importance of good library manners.
3. Brainstorm a list of library rules that are appropriate for the public library
and your classroom reading area, such as using a quiet voice, treating
books with care, and returning books to their proper places.
4. If desired, write the rules on a sheet of chart paper and post the chart in
the reading area.
Instructions
* September is National Sewing Month.
1. Read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback.
2. Talk about how clothes are made.
3. Give each child a copy of the four pages in the book.
4. Divide a sheet of paper into four equal sections. Write each of the
following sentences in a separate section.
* page 1: Pick the cotton from the plant.
* page 2: Spin the cotton into thread.
* page 3: Weave the thread into fabric.
* page 4: Sew the fabric into clothes.
5. Make a copy of this page for each child.
6. In the first section (page 1), children glue a piece of cotton batting; in the
second section (page 2), they glue pieces of thread; in the third section
(page 3), they glue the fabric square; and in the final section (page 4),
they glue on the shirt shape.
7. When dry, cut apart the pages and staple them together with a cover to
make a book.
More to do Art: Let children make a collage using fabric, lace, ribbons, yarn, buttons,
and thread.
Fine Motor: Put out plastic needles or bobby pins and encourage children
to try sewing with yarn on a plastic canvas. (Younger children can weave
pipe cleaners through plastic canvas.)
Sensory: Make a texture book using silk, leather, flannel, and burlap.
Sing the following song to the tune of "London Bridge."
Pick the cotton from the plant,
From the plant, from the plant
Pick the cotton from the plant,
To make clothes.
Spin the cotton into thread,
Into thread, into thread.
Spin the cotton into thread
To make clothes.
Weave the fabric from the thread,
From the thread, from the thread.
Weave the cotton from the thread
To make clothes.
Sew the fabric into clothes,
Into clothes, into clothes.
Sew the fabric into clothes
To make clothes.
