Scat the Cat

I don't believe I've actually shared this story.  It's a great little story that you can add a lot of expression in and there are repeated sections that the children join in readily.  You can also encourage the children's imaginative thinking if you extend it by making up their own problems for Scat.  As you can see above, I use a file folder.  The front has a simple outline of a cat cut out and the back has the story glued on for my own personal use.  :-)  Inside are colored pieces of cardstock (or cut down construction paper) that correspond with the colors in the story. 

Scat the Cat
Scat the Cat was a beautiful black cat who decided he wanted to be another color because all his brothers and sisters were black and he didn't want everyone to look the same.  He wanted to be different.  So, he arched his back and yelled, "I'm Scat the Cat, sassy and fat, and I can change my color just like that (snap fingers)!"

And, just like that, he was blue.  He decided to take a walk by the river to show off his beautiful new color.  But when he got there, he leaned over to watch some fish swimming by and he fell in the water.  He yelled for help but no one could see him because he was blue, the same color as the water.  He was very scared because he didn't know how to swim. But soon, his friend, Tommy Turtle came swimming by and let him ride to shore on his back.  Scat decided that blue was not a very good color for him since he liked going to the river, so he decided to be another color.  So, he arched his back and yelled, "I'm Scat the Cat, sassy and fat, and I can change my color just like that (snap fingers)!"

And, just like that he was yellow.  This time he decided to take a walk in the jungle.  But pretty soon he met Leo the Lion who roared, "Who do you think you are?  You can't be yellow! I'm the only cat in the jungle who can be yellow."  He roared so loud that Scat ran home scared.  After he got home and took a nap, he decided that he'd better be another color so he wouldn't make Leo angry the next time he went for a walk in the jungle.  So, he arched his back and yelled, "I'm Scat the Cat, sassy and fat, and I can change my color just like that (snap fingers)!"

And, just like that, he was red.  He was so proud and he thought this was the most beautiful color of all.  So, he went outside to show his brothers and sisters, but they all started laughing at him sand saying, "Cats aren't suppose to be red!"  Now, Scat the Cat was so sad because every color he wanted to be wasn't right for him and got him into trouble, and he began to cry.  But Mama Cat heard him crying and came to give him a hug, and she said, "Scat, you were beautiful just the way you were!"  Scat knew she was right.  So, finally, he decided he wanted to be the color he used to be, so he arched his back and yelled, "I'm Scat the Cat, sassy and fat, and I can change my color just like that (snap fingers)!"

And just like that, he was black again.  He went to the mirror and looked at himself and he could see that yes, he was a big beautiful black cat.

We used this story to reinforce the short a sound, rhyming/-at family and color words.  In our moveable letter activity, C. wrote the spelling of the word on the board and checked L.'s work.  On this activity, C. spelled the color words and L. checked his work.  I added a little challenge to it because I used uppercase magnetic letters but the color cards are lowercase.  :-)  The black, blue, yellow, red were what Aaron put up on the board while I told the story, Scat the Cat then we extended the activity as above.  The cats I used were from a file folder printable at http://www.daycareresource.com/filefoldergamecolorcats.html.

Have a great day!