1-2-3 Come Do A Mitten Craftivity With Me

This mitten-themed emergent reader, is a quick, easy and fun way to have students practice simple writing skills and end punctuation. 

Run off the mitten pattern on a variety of colors of construction paper. Students choose one, cut it out and color the snowflake. For that finishing touch, glue a school photo to the center of the snowflake.

Each child also needs a copy of the booklet pages. They are on one sheet for easy printing.  As a whole group, read the sentences aloud.  Pause, while students fill in the blanks, complete the writing prompt and add end punctuation.

I also wrote the color of my mittens, using a marker that color.  Have students write the number, as well as the number word in the blank, for how many pairs of mittens they own.

Children cut, collate and then staple their booklet to the cuff of their mitten, and write their name on the cover.

When everyone is done, have children share their mitten booklets.

I've included a graphing extension for colors of mittens, with a tally time worksheet.

Another graph shows whether they prefer gloves or mittens.

There are also a few mitten math extensions. Do the worksheets as a whole group, or break children up into small groups to figure them out.   

To help explain what you want students to do, the packet includes a completed sample that you can share with them, or, if you have the time, make a sample of your own.

Completed projects make an adorable winter bulletin board.  Scatter the mittens on a background of blue.  Use snowflake wrapping paper for extra pizzazz. 

For that finishing touch, edge with a border of paper snowflakes that your kiddos cut out. White doilies cut in half are also lovely. 

Click on the link to view/download the Emergent Reader Mitten craftivity.  That's it for today's newest FREEBIE. Thanks for visiting.

I spent an hour on Pinterest last night, so my brain is brimming with ideas, and my desk is cluttered with notes and sketches.

If you'd like to see the boards I take way too much time on, click the link to zip on over.  I have one specifically for mittens! Almost all of what I pin are educational FREEBIES, crafts, games and just plain fun timesavers.   I did lots of work, so you don't have to.

Playing on Pinterest gets me excited for all of the up-coming celebrations, and like everyone else, I have way more things to get done, than I do the time to make them all in.  Wishing you a productive and carefree day.

"If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change the way you think about it." - Mary Engelbreit   (Perhaps this is what my husband means when he tells me to embrace winter. Brrrrrr.)

1-2-3 Come Do Some Mitten Activities With Me

Do you read The Mitten by Jan Brett?  It's one of my favorite winter stories and perfect for all sorts of sequencing activities. 

With the aid of the materials provided for teachers on Jan's site, I designed 5 activity packets that cover all sorts of standards.  I hope you enjoy them.  They are today's featured FREEBIES and have been very popular downloads.

Help students retell the Ukrainian folktale, by making this cute mitten slider. This is a simple way to review sequencing too.  Graphics copyright janbrett.com

The Language Arts Mitten packet also provides sequencing practice. 

My kiddos loved making the mitten paper plate pocket to keep their things in.

This 24-page packet is chock full of activities that cover a variety of standards and includes:

• Move Over Please, So I Won't Freeze an emergent reader booklet, which reinforces lots of Common Core, especially ordinal numbers and verbs.
• A mitten paper plate pocket "craftivity" students make to keep all of their mitten-related work in.
• A set of ordinal number pocket cards
• A Mitten Matching card game, where students match the animal character to the animal's name, or the ordinal number position it had in the story, or all three: i.e. the word mole, picture of the mole, ordinal number card 1st-first
• Ordinal number character assessment strip with answer key.
• 2 graphing activities
• 2 mitten writing prompts
• Several mitten worksheets, including one that covers rhyming words + more verb-work. (Great for Daily 5 activities.) and ...
• A certificate of praise bookmark that can be used to play another game.

Another Mitten Literacy Packet, includes more ordinal number-sequencing practice that will help your kiddos retell the story, including a "beginning-middle-end" graphic organizer.

There's also a worksheet  where students label the parts of a book, plus pocket chart cards for character, setting and event.  I've also included 8 bookmarks to prompt retelling the story.

Another interesting way to review the story and practice end punctuation and capitalization at the same time, is with The Mitten Pocket Chart Punctuation packet.

You can do this as a whole group activity with laminated cards (give students a dry erase marker for them to make corrections) or give each child a card to fix, by rewriting it on a sheet of scratch paper, then sharing their corrections with the class. 

Finally, Venn diagrams are a quick, easy and fun way to introduce students to the concept of comparison-contrast writing. 

They're great practice if you've already done so, and especially perfect for visual learners.  

There are 3 in the Mitten Venn Diagram packet to choose from. 

Do one as a whole-group activity to explain things, (compare mittens and gloves) and then give students a choice of the other two. (Compare two characters in The Mitten, or compare the story The Mitten with Jan Brett's other story The Hat.)

To see a short (3 minute) YouTube video featuring Jan Brett click on the link.  Another fun video (11 minutes) features Jan showing children how to draw a hedgehog.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found some extension activities to do with your mitten theme. As for me, it's time to help my grandson pick up Toys R Us that seems to have deposited itself all over my office.  Wishing you a day filled with contentment.

Cute quote: "If kisses were snowflakes, I'd send you a blizzard!" -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Mitten Activities With Me!

Since the other mitten packets to go with Jan Brett's story The Mitten, were such popular downloads, I decided to make a few more language arts craftivities to match that Ukrainian folktale.

The Mitten literacy packet contains: an ordinal number worksheet that will help your students with sequencing the characters, a label the cover activity, a beginning-middle-end graphic organizer, 2 sets of pocket cards that review characters, stories and events + 8 bookmarks to prompt retelling of the tale.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Literacy Packet.

Another way to sequence the story is with The Mitten Story Telling Slider "craftivity."  Run off the mitten on white construction paper and cut slits for the "window" with an Exacto knife. 

Children cut out their mitten, add some color to their "slider" and insert it into the mitten. 

Students retell the story by pulling the pictures on the slider so they show in the window.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Story Telling Slider.

Finally, I made some pocket review cards.  Students change the letters that need to be capitalized and add end punctuation. 

The question cards provide a nice review of the story as well.  Click on the link to view/download The Mitten Punctuation-Capitalization Pocket Card Review packet. 

Thanks for visiting.  It's time to don my mittens and brave the cold, so Chloe my poodle pup gets a bit of fresh air. 

"He had mittens, Minjekahjwun, magic mittens made of deer skin; when upon his hands he wore them, he could smite the rocks asunder; he could grind them into powder." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow