Alphabet Quiet Book: G is for Giraffe and Goose

This post is the eighth in a series about the alphabet quiet book I'm making with the girls for preschool this year. To read the introduction, click here, and to read the rest of the posts (updated on a weekly basis) click the "Quiet Book" label on the right.

G is for Giraffe and Goose
Our G page is very simple. It doesn't have any movable parts, and it doesn't have any amazing activities. It's just a fun little page illustrating the two sounds the letter G can make, with a bit of texture thrown in. But it's bright and sunny and cheerful, and the girls and I still like it very much.

Inspiration and Page Design

My inspiration for this page came directly from Lorrie's giraffe page featured on The Quiet Book Blog. I thought the idea of a giraffe with his name spelled along his long neck was a great idea, and it was one of the first page ideas I filled in when I was sketching out the master plan for our alphabet book. When it came time to make the page, however, I started thinking about whether or not a giraffe was actually the right symbol for our G page. After all, G makes two sounds, and of the two, G is more likely to make the hard G sound than the soft G of giraffe. But if I added an animal that began with a hard G, my problem would be solved and I would have an even better point to my page - illustrating the two different sounds a G can make. I wavered a bit between a goat and a goose, but Annie solved the problem by deciding firmly on the goose.

I made the giraffe a tail by sewing several long loops of brown embroidery floss, and then making a series of half-hitch knots with yellow embroidery floss over it, friendship bracelet style. It's a little more durable than just tying on a bit of cord, as it isn't going anywhere.

I also really wanted to give the giraffe a black tongue (see below), since long black tongues are one of the amazing weird qualities of giraffes. My black tongue unfortunately looks a little like a beard, though. I'm not sure how to make it clearer it's a tongue, since our eyes simply rebel against the idea of black being an appropriate color for a tongue.

Preschool goals for using the Giraffe/Goose page

My goal with this page is simply to learn the two sounds a G makes. Between the quiet book page and the two Sesame Street videos below, I think the girls have this one down now! They love these songs so much. The first classic Sesame Street song below is on their "Sing the Alphabet" cd which the girls listen to Every. Single. Day. They call the cd "Ackle Jackle", because on the first song Elmo tries to pronounce the alphabet as a single word and it sort of sounds like that. Anyway, these two videos are both very fun, and both admirably illustrate the two sounds G can make.