Welcome to Story Stretchers Camp! A Rockin' Kick-off Children's Book Extension

We are kicking off our summer Story Stretchers Camp here with one of my favorite books, Everybody Needs a Rock written by Byrd Baylor, illustrated by Peter Parnall. I've yet to find a child who does not love to pick up and collect rocks and in my family, I've yet to meet an adult who doesn't fit this profile either! In fact, many of my resources and ideas for this story stretcher came from my own mother, also a preschool educator (and avid rock collector) who taught an enrichment class last year she calls "Rock-It Science."

I don't have a "set method" for setting up and executing our story stretcher themes. While I am devoting a week to each target story I use this summer, I've mentioned before that story stretcher activities can be done in as little as 15-20 minutes or can be stretched across a whole week or unit. You could, for instance, do a rock theme over the course of several weeks and include more than one story with it or use the target book as a way to introduce the sub-theme of rocks. While each week at our Story Stretcher Camp will be set up a little differently, there are some main aspects I will aim to consistently include:

• My books are chosen based on interests and passions my toddler is currently exploring. If your children are particularly passionate about a topic, you may already have or know of books related to it. If not, doing a Pinterest search is a great way to start! For example, searching "children's books about robots" will pull up a variety of Pins with book suggestions, and, likely also activities. Alternatively, you can build your story stretchers off of your children's favorite books. I love brainstorming themes and activities related to some of S's favorite stories!
• We will begin each week by presenting our target story and reading it together. Every early reader is different. Some love to sit for story time, some do not. Many feel differently about being read to at different times. Here are some ways to creatively introduce your target story based on some different reading/listening styles:
• Introduce your book at the "right time." If your little one mainly likes being read to at bath time or bed time or during meal times, read the book then!
• Take a "picture walk" with longer text rather than reading word for word. In other words, show the pictures and use your own descriptive language to paraphrase a story.
• Ask questions, leave familiar text out for your little one to fill in the blank or even fill in a blank to a familiar story yourself with a silly word to engage and include your pre-reader. Use pictures to ask questions about how a character is feeling. Ask your little readers what they think a story will be about showing the title page or what they think will happen next at a cliff hanger. These are all great tools to build literacy skills and to keep your child's interest.
• Include props, puppets, stuffed animals, felt board or printed/laminated pictures when possible to add a hands-on/visual element to a book. This is particularly useful for tactile and visual learners who may be less auditory.
• If your library has more than one copy of a target book, you may wish to check out multiples--particularly if you have more than one reader at home! Being able to follow along in their own copy of the book can be quite appealing.
• Use audio or video versions of a book in lieu of reading it yourself and follow along with a hard copy if you wish.
• Using your finger to point to text on a page helps to connect the concept of words on a page creating the story even for pre-readers.
• Some weeks will include stories related to the target story and others will focus on only one target story with more play based activities related to it. Some weeks we will explore a particular theme through literature and some weeks we may explore a particular author through literature. 
• All of our story stretchers will include some or all of the following types of extension activities: dramatic play, sensory play, science, math, writing/language arts, music/movement and gross motor activities, outdoor play, related outings/field trips, arts & crafts, cooking, building and more!

And here's a peek in our playroom set up as we kick off our week of taking Everybody Needs a Rock beyond the book!

Our shelves are stocked with some theme related materials, including additional reading checked out from our local library, a copy of our target book, some rocks to observe and explore and a "few selections" (her words) from my mother's museum collection of interesting rocks and minerals. I will set out different activities in particular throughout the week and we will also be reading some other great rock-themed children's literature.

A magnifying glass and some non-fiction children's literature checked out from our local library make a great compliment to our target book and invite and encourage exploration.

If you'd like to join us in a rock themed unit or similar story stretcher, here are some materials you may wish to include:

• rocks, either found and collected or purchased from craft shops, aquarium shops and even dollar store floral/craft departments
• chalk
• pencils
• paper/notebooks
• recycled containers or a craft box to decorate (for a rock house)*
• a recycled shoe box or foil pan for "rock n' roll" painting*
• magnifying glasses
• paintbrushes, toothbrushes and/or scrub brushes for washing rocks*
• ice cube tray for sorting
• washable paint
• plastic bin, trays, or water table/sensory table for sensory play with rocks
• sand (either craft sand or play sand)
• large pictures of shapes to trace for rock shape trace (you can print from home and laminate if you wish)*

*more on these activities later...stay tuned!

I'm a BIG fan of using what you have, so please do not feel you need to go out and purchase all or any of these materials. I did spend a few bucks getting some fresh craft sand and some river rocks at the craft supply store this time, but all of our books for this unit are checked out from the library and everything else I already had at home. If there are activities you have the materials for, go ahead and do those!

S loves finding and collecting objects from nature, particularly interesting rocks and sticks. I leave a couple of "treasure jars" out front for him to store these materials as he finds them.

Here's a peek at some of the ones we have set up for this week. We will be back to post about some of our favorites. Until then, happy reading, story stretching and playing!

s

We're bringing out some of our favorite rock materials from the past year, like these Shabbos Story Rocks... 

...our letter rocks--particularly great for name building activities...

And this invitation to create a shape, now using rocks to trace with...

I previously printed and laminated these shape mats for use with a variety of materials, from rocks (and other loose parts), to playdough and even dry erase markers.

This invitation to draw with chalk on river rocks is a great art extension...

...and a wonderful theme related addition to our art shelf.

Rocks and Minerals are all around us--even in some of the every day materials we use and love. S will be fascinated to see and use chalk in its natural form...

...and graphite...

This cute little rock poem teaches about the cycle of rocks and is a great way to include some journaling to your theme and to accompany the below activity:

Observing sand...

...and investigating pebbles in sand...

And of course, a rock is most likely to be found outdoors. Our week will surely include many rock scavenger hunts and some sensory and water play in our (very muddy) water table!