Here is a unique collection of engaging story hour activities to help school and public librarians spark young children's love of books and reading as they learn each letter of the alphabet and letter-sound relationships.

From Alligators for A to Zoo for Z, this resource provides over 100 ready-to-use multisensory activities, games, and patterns based on innovative themes and favorite fiction and nonfiction books for beginning readers.

These story hour activities are ideal for integrating library skills into the early childhood program and include a wide variety of projects to appeal to the multiple learning styles of any group of children. For each letter of the alphabet you'll find:

• a motivating Introductory Activity such as an interactive game, a set of riddles, a drawing story, a message rebus, or a felt-board story, e.g., For A, you use a roll of paper towels to gradually reveal seven intriguing facts about Alligators.
• An extensive Annotated Reading List including at least 10 related recommended story books for read-alouds plus nonfiction sources for extended learning and research, e.g., The Pirate Who Tried to Capture the Moon and Sunken Treasure for Pirates.
• A fun and easy Recipe related to the theme, e.g., "Swamp Juice" for Frogs ... "Graham Cracker Houses" for Home ... and "Sunrise on the Amazon" for Rain Forest
• A Music Activity based on well-known tunes such as "Three Blind Mice" and "Old MacDonald," with music and related fingerplays/movements provided, e.g., "We Took a Walk in the Woods" for Camping ... "The Meatball Counting Song" for Spaghetti ... and "The Turtle Game" for Turtles
• an Art Activity complete with reproducible patterns, e.g.,"Bubble Creature" for Bubbles ... "Dinosaur Finger Puppets" for Dinosaurs ... and "Monster Hat" for Monsters
• a reproducible Research Project to help children build basic library research skills, e.g., using an encyclopedia with color illustrations to answer several questions about Frogs and using a dictionary to find synonyms that rhyme with Love

And to save you time and work, all materials are printed in a big 8-1/4" x 11" lay-flat binding for easy photocopying of the activity sheets and patterns as many times as you need them for use with individual students, small groups or a whole class.

In short, Library Story Hour From A to Z is packed with exciting multisensory activities to introduce young children to each letter of the alphabet while exploring a wide range of interesting fiction and nonfiction books. These activities not only help you integrate library and classroom instruction but enliven and enrich the entire early childhood curriculum!