Put On Your Hat and Mittens: Literacy Activities with Jan Brett's Classic Winter Stories

Hi Friends.
All this snowy weather really puts me in the mood to enjoy some Jan Brett books with my class.  She is one of my favorite authors and illustrators.
On our short week returning from Christmas break and the next short week (due to snow days), we read The Mitten and The Hat.  We used these two books as jumping off points for some Mitten and Hat inspired literacy activities.
We, of course, had to compare and contrast these two stories.  We worked as a class to brainstorm a list of ways these stories are alike and how they are different.  Students completed their own Venn diagrams using our class list.

After finishing the Venn diagram, students picked their favorite of the two stories.  They wrote about it and explained their choice.  Then, they illustrated their favorite part of their story.

If you would like a FREE copy of these printables, just click on one of the pictures or click here.

Our class just happen to be finishing up our study of long vowel sounds, spelled vowel-consonant-silent e.  I made a Real Word/Silly Word sort with a hedgehog theme to reinforce our work with this pattern.  I printed enough sets of this literacy center for the whole class to work on at the same time in partner sets.
It was a quick little assessment that let me know how well my young learners are reading with this pattern.
If you would like a FREE copy of Hedgie's Word Sort, you can click on the picture or click here.

The Hat influenced our practice with adjectives.  My firsties still have a ways to go when it comes to identifying and working with adjectives.  Any practice that we can get with adjectives is needed.

With this simple activity, students had to match the correct adjective with the correct hat.  Just like in the Real Word/Silly Word sort (pictured above), I printed enough sets of this literacy center for the whole class to work on at the same time in partner sets.  However, this activity would be great in small group or in whole group with a pocket chart or by adding magnets to the backs of the cards.

If you would like a FREE copy of Happy Hats Adjectives, you can click on the picture or click here. 

As an extension of our work with adjectives, we made our Winter Kids for display in the classroom.  Students designed their own hats and then wrote about them.  Writing about their original hat deigns gave students the perfect opportunity to use adjectives.

If you would like more details about this writing craftivity, you can click one of the pictures or click here.

There are so many ideas for using The Hat and The Mitten with students.  You may already have your own stockpile of activities and resources that you love.  If not, I hope some of these activities will be a help to you.  Also, if you visit  Pinterest, there are loads and loads of Hat and Mitten activities to choose from.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week.

Ringing In the New Year, Classroom Style

Are you a New Year's resolution person?  Well, I am.  I have had the same resolution for the past few years.  Start going to bed on time.  I'm sorry to say, like many resolution makers, I've already broke it.  We were in school a total of three days this first week back from winter break, I did not go to bed on time once.  Oh well...I'll try again next week.

During our three days back this week, my firsties rang in the New Year with style.  We did some retraining, some reviewing, and some fun New Year's themed activities.  Here's a peek at a few of the New Year's resources our class enjoyed.

We built background knowledge by reading the few New Year's themed books I've been able to get my hands on.  For some reason, there are not very many of them. 

We read P. Bear's New Year's Party by Paul Owen Lewis.  This book is a counting book about the animals arriving to Polar Bear's party.  (If you would like a copy of a free activity I used with this book, a few years ago, you can click here.)

We read Squirrel's New Year's Resolution by Pat Miller.  This story is super cute.  It does a good job explaining what a resolution is.  It follows Squirrel as he tries to figure out what his resolution should be by asking the other forest animals about their resolutions.  I like reading this book in class just before we do any resolutions writing or set any goals for the New Year.

Another New Year's themed book I shared with my first graders was The Night before New Year's by Natasha Wing.  This edition of The Night Before... books is true to form as it stays consistent the pattern of The Night Before Christmas, but inserts the symbols and traditions (this time) from New Year's.  It's a great jumping off point for students to share their family traditions for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

New Year's Day (Celebrations in My World) by Lynn Peppas and New Year's Day (Holiday Histories) by Kathryn Imler are two nonfiction explanations of New Year's.  They are a great way to explain traditions and facts about this holiday.

Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas, by Gail Piernas-Davenport, is a wonderful book to use with your young learners.  This rhyming story tells the story of Shante as she visits neighbors to borrow some black-eyed peas.  She learns about different New Year's traditions from around the world from her neighbors.  I love this book.

Throughout the week, as we read these stories, we created a New Year's anchor chart to display and reference in class.

Having the anchor chart helped students with a couple of writing assignments they completed about New Year's.  One of the writing assignments went along with a cute New Year's craftivity we completed to share our resolutions.  Our New Year's Kids look totally cute as a hallway display and the kids love, love, love the blowouts.

If you are interested, this writing craftivity is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers story.  You can click on one of the pictures for details.

We started our January math and literacy centers this week.  Some of the centers are New Year themed.  The one pictured below is a review of the short and long a sound.  

It's amazing to me how improved my students are with centers at this point in the year.  They are so much more independent and willing to problem solve each month.  It's really rewarding to see.

Below is a FREE New Year's math center that I've incorporated during our center time during the past couple of years.  Students practice matching the numbers that are 10 more, 10 less, 1 more, and 1 less.  If you would like a free copy of this center to use with your class, click on the picture below.

Another free New Year's math resource you may want to check out is my Out With the Old and In With the New: A Happy New Year Math Mini Book.  This little booklet features word problems that review some of the skills that we've covered so far this year.   I'm all about holiday inspired math mini books as we continue to learn how to tackle word problems. 

I've updated it through 2025. You can click on the picture below for a free copy of this booklet.

Although New Year's Day has past once we return from break, I still really enjoy finding ways to integrate it into my classroom.  It makes the beginning of the second semester start on a really positive note.

I hope you had a great first week back from break.  Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers to a great rest of the year!

Authors We Love: Ezra Jack Keats

We've made it through the week back from spring break and now we're on the countdown to the end of the year . . . craziness.  I was so happy that our author study of Ezra Jack Keats fell this week.  Since I love, love, love, Ezra Jack Keats, I had a little bright spot returning from break.

Here are a few of the activities and resources I used as part of our learning with Ezra Jack Keats . . .

Early in the week we watched a Brain Pop Jr. biography about Keats.  There was also a companion episode about collage that we watched as well.  For the rest of the week my young learners were all about spotting collage and other special elements in Keats' illustrations.

Of course we read as many Ezra Jack Keats books as we could.  We primarily focused on the Peter books.  They offer so many opportunities for comprehension discussion and character comparisons.

After reading all about Peter, we made a super quick and easy graph showing our favorite Peter books.  I gave students a "Willie" to color and cut.  I arranged our Peter books on our white board tray.  Students placed their Willies above their favorite books.
This year, Peter's Chair was our class favorite.

We did a little Willie themed addition and subtraction review.  I made a few versions of Best Dishes Willie, focusing on mixed addition and subtraction and three digit adding.  One version includes touch numbers for students that need a review of that strategy.

If you would like a FREE copy of these printables, click on one of the pictures below.

We also created some Ezra Jack Keats inspired artwork.  Students used construction paper, crayons, and glue to make their cityscapes.  They had so much fun making them.
My classes have made this project for a few years and I love how they turn out.

We had a great week with Ezra Jack Keats.  Now I think my kids love his work as much as I do.  Planning class activities around favorites is a perfect way to keep the weeks leading up to the end of the school year fun, engaging, and productive.

I'll leave you will a few pics from our spring break.  We took a trip to Disney World.  We had a magical (and exhausting time).  After this winter, it was such a blessing to go somewhere warm and sunny.  It was exactly what we needed. :)

You're Finally Here! (Back to School Fun)

Well, it's just about here . . . the beginning of the school year.  I have one day and about ten hours left of summer break.  I was in and out of my room earlier this week, starting to get my ducks in a row.  You know how things are when teachers start back, lots of trainings, meetings, and catching up with coworkers.  My room isn't ready yet, but I have made progress.
Getting my room in shape is not my only challenge, planning for the first week can be a bit tricky.  Of course I'll spend a lot of time teaching and practicing classroom procedures with my new students.  I also have few go-to read alouds and activities that are musts.  One of my favorite back to school read alouds is Melanie Watt's book, You're Finally Here!

I've had this book for a couple of years and my students really enjoyed it.  The illustrations are lively and bold.  It's one of those books that you will probably find your students talking back to (like Mo Willems' Pigeon books).  Anyway, reading You're Finally Here! is a great way to kick things off with a new group of learners.

After sharing this book, I'll be using it as a jumping off point for some literacy and math learning with my new packet, You're Finally Here! {Back to School Literacy and Math Activities}.

This packet includes a getting to know you listening activity, an about me booklet, two abc order printables, two labeling printables, two graphing printables, two ten frame printables, and a craftivity.
If you are interested, You're Finally Here! {Back to School Literacy and Math Activities} is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  You can click on the picture for more information.
This packet, as well as my back to school literacy and math centers, will be on sale for the next few days.  So, if you are looking for some new back to school resources, now would be a perfect time to stock up.
Best.

WOW MOM (Ideas for Mother's Day and Two Free Printables)

Hi friends.  Hope you are doing well.  I'm down to about two weeks left for this school year.  I cannot believe it!  This time last year I was in total stress mode about my daughter starting kindergarten.  I've always heard that once your children start school time starts moving even more quickly.  I am in complete agreement with that notion.
She has had a wonderful kindergarten year and made so much growth.  She loves her school and especially her teacher.  We were talking last night about her best friends and Ms. M was in the list.  So sweet.

Speaking of sweet, Mother's Day is right around the corner and I'm sure you're planning some sweet surprises for your class moms.  If you are looking for a lovely mentor text to go along with Mother's Day, I highly recommend A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza.

This sweet story follows Choco as he searches for a mother.  He goes from animal to animal comparing physical features to see if he is a match.  He eventually connects with mother bear who brings him into her untraditional family.
Like many of Kasza's books, the students will really enjoy the surprise ending.  This text is wonderful to use with many comprehension skills:  problem and solution, predictions, sequencing, and text to text comparisons (would be great with P. D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?).
I love this book because of the wide scoping definition it gives to what a mother is.  With all of the students that come through my classroom being raised by someone other than their biological mom, A Mother for Choco illustrates how a mother can be anyone who loves and cares for them.

After reading this text, we will complete a thought map about moms.  If you would like a FREE copy of this activity, click on the picture below.  (The clip art is from JW Illustrations.)

We have also been working on a couple of gifts to give to our class moms for Mother's Day.  Yesterday we made our mom glyphs.  They turned out fabulous and the kids had fun making them.

In addition to our mom glyphs, students will also make their My Marvelous Mom booklet.  We'll start work on those later in the week.  But when A saw what I was printing for my students, she wanted a copy.  She gave me my own personal edition of My Marvelous Mom and I LOVE it.

For a FREE copy of this booklet to use with your students, click on the picture below.  If your students are like mine, they will be excited to make these booklets and proud to give them to their moms.  (The clip art is from Scrappin Doodles.)

I hope some of these ideas help you as you plan for Mother's Day with your students.  There are so many wonderful ways for your students to show their moms how much they love them.  I'm sure anything your kids create will be cherished.
Have a great week.

It's SpringTIME (Plus a Free Bunny Craftivity)

Room 8 has been hoppin' this week.  On Tuesday, we started our new literacy and math centers for April.  My kids are always so excited to see what's in-store for them.  I love seeing the progress they have made over the course of the year, since each month's centers grow more challenging.

If you are not using centers in your class, I encourage you to starting looking around at resources and thinking about how they could work for you.  I love them because they allow for continuous review, a chance for some movement, and for collaboration with others.  They are totally worth the time it takes to set them up.

Tuesday was also April Fool's Day (every teachers' favorite holiday:) ).  In class we read some April Fool's Day books, did some writing, and made a craftivity.  Surprisingly, the kids were really pretty controlled with their jokes.  I, however, pulled a pretty good one on my sweet, gullible, little firsties.
Our class spelling test is always on Friday.  After group time, I announced we were going to have our spelling test that morning instead.  I handed out tests and began to call out the words.  Number one was April.  Number two was Fool's.  At that point they're on to me.  And number three was Day.  They went crazy when they figured out what was going on.  I'll definitely use that one again.

In math we continued to work on telling time. We did lots and lots of hands on practice using model clocks.  Students also identified time I showed on my big clock and recorded their answers on white board paddles.  

I created an anchor chart so we could work on some time vocab.  It's hard to tell by the picture, but I used a brad with the hands so that they are functional.

At the end of the week, I read one of my favorite Easter themed mentor texts, The Easter Egg by Jan Brett.  (If you do not have this book, you have to check it out.  It is wonderful).

It is about a young bunny, Hoppi, who is trying to create his first Easter egg to give to the Easter Rabbit.  He sees all of the other bunnies working on their eggs and he can't decide what kind of egg to create.  As the story continues, Hoppi chooses to help another forest friend instead of completing his Easter egg artwork.  Hoppi's selflessness is eventually rewarded in the end.
The message in this book is so special and the artwork is tremendous.  The Easter Egg is exactly what you would expect from Brett.

The Easter Egg can be used for many classroom activities: comprehension, retelling, context clues, inferencing.  It inspired us to create out own Hoppi artwork that will be brightening up our classroom for the next few weeks.

If you would like a FREE copy of this bunny pattern, click on the picture below.  It's a very simple project that is perfect for spring in your classroom.  It's always so fun to see how students' personalities shine through in projects like this one.  I wish I had taken more pictures of some of the eggs, especially the boys' eggs.  One had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and another one had a surfer being chased by a shark.  Too funny!

I also used this book for a writing assignment last year.  This writing assignment would work really well with the bunny craft.  If you are interested in reading more about it, click here.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Have a great week.

Out Like a Lamb: Three FREEBIES to Welcome April

What a week!  The week after spring break always seems to be quite an adjustment at school and at home.  We had something going on every night.  Now that my daughter is in school, her extracurricular activities keeps us hopping.  Soccer, gymnastics, choir, ballet . . . you get the picture.

We were hopping at school is well.  I pulled out all of my Ezra Jack Keats books and we worked on various comprehension skills with his works.  The kids  l o v e d  his books.  Most of them new A Snowy Day, but the other texts were new to them.  We discuss character, predictions, and context clues. They really liked looking at the illustrations and finding common elements in all of the books.  At the end of the week my firsties made their own Keats inspired Willie artwork.  The pieces turned out fantastic.

We also made some April Fool's Day spelling art to hang in the hallway outside of the class.   The kids really enjoyed making this project. They turned out so colorful and cute.  If you would like a FREE pattern of this activity, click on the picture below.  There is a writing page as well as the spelling page included in the pattern.

In my spare time (ha ha ha), I put the final touches on my literacy and math centers for April.  I finished and posted them with two days to spare.  Pictured below are two freebies from these packets.  

First up is Carrot Loving Contractions from Hop to It {10 Literacy Centers for April}.  Students will match contraction work cards with the words that make up that contraction.  There is a recording sheet included.  Click on the picture below for your FREE copy.

The next free center is from my math packet for April, Hop to It {10 Math Centers for April}.  Being Green: Fraction Fun is an Earth Day themed center that focuses on students identifying and sorting fractions of groups.  For a FREE copy of this center, click on the picture.

If you like these centers, you may want to check out the full packets (which are on sale through Monday).  Hop to It {10 Math Centers for April} and Hop to It {10 Literacy Centers for April} are great ways to add fun spring learning to your math or literacy time.  Click on the pictures for more details.

I hope you have a great week.  Thanks so much for stopping by.