1-2-3 Come Do Some "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" Activities With Me

Do you read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff? 

I absolutely love her "If You Give A..." series of stories.  So do my students.  They truly get a kick out of the endings, where things come full circle and then repeat. 

Glad that a publisher finally agreed, as that best-selling book was rejected 9 times!!!! Puts new meaning behind the words, "Try, try again." 

These books are perfect for sequencing!  With that in mind, I designed a storytelling flip booklet, as well as a slider craftivity. 

Both packets will help practice the "sequencing & retelling a story" standards, and make for a wonderful transition activity, after you're done reading the story.  

First up is the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" flip booklet. 

Fun for your kiddos and easy-peasy for you too, as it’s simply “Print & Go”. 

Simply run the mouse pattern off on construction paper or card stock.
Students color & trim. This becomes the sturdy “base” of their booklet.

Students color, cut & collate the pages into a little book, which is then glued to the base.

I purposely did not number the pages, so you can assess comprehension & ability to sequence correctly.

I've included black & white patterns, as well as colorful ones, so that you can quickly & easily make an example to share.

Because children absolutely love giving their opinion, the last page allows them a chance to rate the story with a thumbs up or down, as well as coloring in a star ranking.

To further check comprehension, I’ve included a “color, cut & glue” worksheet too.

As another way to assess comprehension, as well as include some writing practice, there’s also a “Here’s What Happened…” worksheet, which can be done as a whole group with younger children.

When everyone is done, have children pick a partner and take turns telling the story, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” to each other.
We sometimes do this sort of thing with our older reading buddies.

Afterwards, encourage students to share their mouse craft with their parents, once again retelling the story.

Next up is the slider.  There are several mouse options. I’ve included a large, full-page pattern for teachers, as well as a smaller, 2-on-a-page pattern for your students.

Children color the story elements on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider” the various pictures go through the cookie “window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their mouse home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.

I’ve included a “sequence the story” slider activity for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on the blank slider strip.

You also have the option to do the regular slider with the story graphics in the appropriate order, then assess comprehension afterwards, using the “Sequence the Story” worksheet.

I introduce the lesson by reading "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie", then share my completed "slider craftivity” with my students.

So that you can quickly, and easily make an example, I’ve included a full-color slider pattern.

After I read the story, we retell the tale together, using the picture prompts on my cookie mouse.
Have children guess which story element they think comes next before you pull the picture through the “window”.

My students now know what’s expected of them, and are very excited to transition to making a Cookie Mouse story slider of their own.

As with the flip booklet, this packet also includes a "Here's What Happened..." worksheet, in black & white, as well as color, so that you can do this as a whole group discussion with little ones.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a fun little "back to school" icebreaker.

You can play this "get to know you game" with M&Ms or Skittles,   This activity works with a variety of ages and grade levels.  I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in. 

Not sure about you, but my summer is going at the speed of light. 

Seems like we were all just cheering on the last day, and now we're getting ready for that exciting first week of school. 

Wishing you a blessed day free of stress, and those too long "To Do" lists.

"You do enough. You are enough. You've done enough. You have enough. Relax." - Unknown