activities for jan bretts the mitten story

Sequencing & Retelling a Story Craft For "The Mitten"

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

Do you read the Ukrainian folktale The Mitten, by Jan Brett? It’s one of my favorite winter stories and perfect for practicing the sequencing and retelling a story standards.

mitten activities, mitten crafts, jan bretts The MittenWith that in mind, I designed this quick, easy and fun, mitten-themed craft. 

The Mitten story “slider” craftivity helps your students retell the story in the proper order.

I just updated this packet and have included a second slider option as well as some additional worksheets.

Simply choose which graphics you like best, then run the mitten and slider patterns off on white paper.

Using construction paper or card stock adds to the sturdiness.

activities for The Mitten, Jan Brett's The MittenChildren trim their mitten, then color, cut and glue their slider together. 

I pre-cut the mitten slits using an Exacto knife, so that children can easily insert their “storytelling strip”.

Takes me just a few minutes to slit a class set. (Try to say that tongue twister 3 times!)

As children pull on the end of their “slider” the various pictures go through the mitten “window”, so that students can take turns retelling the story to a partner, then take their mitten home to share with their family, once again practicing the lesson.

I introduce the lesson by reading the story, then share my sample with the children. 

We retell the tale together, using the picture prompts on the slider.   Pausing before I show the graphic, I ask children "what comes next?"

We've had a quick & fun review; my students now know what’s expected of them, and are excited to transition to making a “mitten story slider” of their own. 

So that you can quickly and easily make an example to share, I’ve included full-color patterns for teachers, as well as a black & white templates for students.

The coloring, cutting and assembling a storytelling slider provides great fine motor practice, which will help strengthen children's finger muscles. 

The Mitten ActivitiesSliders are an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.  I’ve also included a “Let’s sequence the story” activity for this, where students color and trim the "picture tiles" then glue them in the correct order on their worksheet.

There’s a larger, full-color option, so you can do this as a fun whole-group activity with little ones.  This can be done during, or after you read the story.

There’s also a “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet, as another way to check comprehension, plus practice sequential writing; hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers and other transitions. 

Use the colorful template to do this as a whole group activity with younger kiddos. 

snowman name craftKeeping with a winter theme, today's featured FREEBIE is a sweet snowman "Name Stacker" craft.

I pre-cut the white circles for my kiddos.

snowman name stackers for lockers, snowman name craftLooking at their name tag, which is on their desk, they write a letter on each of the circles to spell their name.

Encourage students to make big letters, which fill up the center of the circle.

Afterwards, they glue on a hat and add some facial features to the "head"; then glue the rest of their "body" circles on, creating a vertical name "stacker" snowman. 

 snowman name stackers, snowman name craftCompleted projects look adorable on lockers.

winter crafts, snowman crafts, mitten craftsWell that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. 

My "To Do for January" list is quite daunting. 

I'm afraid there is simply not enough time in the month to get everything designed that I'd like. Oh well...

Wishing you a wonderful & stress-free week.

"Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers." -Kahlil Gibran

Read more...

Fun Activities To Go With Jan Brett's The Mitten

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. 

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, venn diagrams, comparing the hat with the mitten, graphic organizers, Venn diagrams, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenactivities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenWith 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.

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, venn diagrams, comparing the hat with the mitten, graphic organizers, Venn diagrams, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenactivities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenHelp students retell the Ukrainian folktale, by making this cute mitten slider. This is a simple way to review sequencing too.  Graphics copyright janbrett.com

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenThe 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.

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenactivities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenAnother 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.

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenAnother 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. 

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, venn diagrams, comparing the hat with the mitten, graphic organizers, Venn diagrams, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenactivities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenFinally, 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.

activities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, venn diagrams, comparing the hat with the mitten, graphic organizers, Venn diagrams, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenactivities to go with Jan bretts books, the mitten activities, end punctuation activities, ordinal number activities, capitalization activities, pocket chart cards for the mitten, mitten crafts, graphic organizers, the mitten book, activities to go with the mitten, sequencing a story, common core mittens, end punctuation practice, Venn diagrams, venn diagram comparing the mitten, story cards for the mittenThanks 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

 

Read more...