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The Jacket I Wear in the Snow • As the story is read, invite children to chime in when they can. Many will say the words illustrated with rebus pictures, others will remember entire phrases. • Invite children to act out the story. You may need to demonstrate first by squirming in long underwear, rubbing stiff jeans, tugging on stuck zipper, etc. • Draw and duplicate a paper doll. Encourage children to color them according to the colors and designs on their winter clothing. 
The school "Lost and Found" box yielded everything needed for this bulletin board at Ada Elementary, Ada, MI. • Use items brought from home or the school lost-and-found box to pin on a clothesline on a bulletin board. • Children can draw self-portraits dressed to play in the snow. • Make a bulletin board with a large paper doll, articles of clothing, and word and phrase cards. Have children arrange them as the story is read. Ask them to retell the story using the items. • Do choral reading of the story. Give each child or group of two or three children a phrase to recite and/or act out as the story is read. • Give children a paper printed with: This is the _______ I wear in the
________. Have them draw a picture and write, or tell you what
to write, in the blanks. |
The Dress I’ll Wear to the Party • Make a paper doll and articles of clothing for children to use for dressing and undressing the doll as the story is read. • Collect clothing and accessories that children may use for dress up to retell the story. • Ask the children why the mother took away the party clothes. Discuss what they should do when they want to borrow something that belongs to another. • Talk about different kinds of parties. Ask children to tell what kind of clothing is appropriate for each. • Look at the last page where the girl is holding a present. Ask the
children to tell what they would hope to find in the box if the
present were for them. |
The Bag I’m Taking to Grandma’s • Talk about what they would take to stay overnight at someone else’s house. • Talk about the difference between what they need and what they want. • Give each child a paper bag. Have them draw and cut-out items they want to pack, then staple or glue them to “fill” the bag. •
Make books by giving each child pages printed with, “This is
the ________ I’m taking to Grandma’s.” The last
page might read, “This is the _________ Mother wants me to
take to Grandma’s.” Children should draw a picture
and fill in the blank for each page. Make covers from paper grocery
bags. |
We’re Making Breakfast for Mother • Collect items for acting out or retelling the story. • Make a placemat that shows appropriate way to set a table by tracing plate, glass, napkin, and silverware on a large sheet of construction paper. Have children practice setting a table, first with the placemat diagram side up, and later from memory. • Show how a square napkin can be folded to make a rectangle or a triangle. • Have a special Mother’s Day celebration. Entertainment can be reading and acting out the story. Children can make placemats, set tables, and serve a breakfast they make. (Recipe follows.) • Make an easy breakfast casserole. After discussing health reasons for washing hands and keeping food preparation area clean, children can tear bread, crack eggs, pour milk, cut sausage, and sprinkle cheese. Egg and Sausage Casserole Recipe
Children at Jack D. Jones Elementary, White Cloud, MI act out We're Making Breakfast for Mother Equipment: Ingredients: Directions: Serve with juice and fruit salad. Children can cut bananas, peaches,
melon, and strawberries with plastic knives and arrange them in
dishes. |
The House I’ll Build for the Wrens • Let children collect tools. As the story is read, the child holding the tool mentioned should make motions pretending to use it. • After reading the story, discuss the need for cleaning up after work or play. • Paint cardboard milk cartons to resemble a birdhouse. Use a twig as a perch. • Have children assemble wood scraps to make something realistic or abstract. Glue with wood glue. • Make a display of books that introduce bird identification for young
children. |
I’m Taking a Trip on My Train • Talk about words that have more than one meaning. Examples of words with multiple meanings in this book are train, trip, refrain, wave, red, track, and watch. Ask how the meaning of trip changes from when the engineer says it throughout the story to when the mother says it at the end. • Have children list books they’ve read on paper cut outs of train cars. Make a border around the room. •
Draw and duplicate an engineer’s cap. Print, “I’m
taking a trip on my train. I’ll go to ______________ and
see _____________________.” |
I’m Not Feeling Well Today • Begin reading the story. Stop after a few pages and ask, “How sick do you think the child is?” Read a few more pages and repeat the question. Have children explain their answers, especially if they’ve changed their minds. • Have children list or draw things they like to have with them when they don’t feel well. • Point out that the pattern of the story changes on the page where the child asks to have a book read. Ask why the child might change what he’s asking. • Have children tell or write about a time when they were sick. • Draw pictures of things to do on a day off from school. |
Our Class Took a Trip to the Zoo • Ask children to make the noise of each animal after its name is read in the story. • Collect toy animals to use in retelling the story. • Talk about how the child must feel after he meets each animal. • Ask the children why they think the child had so many misadventures. • Talk about the differences in the opinions of the teacher and the child. • Have children make a book with drawings or cut outs of their favorite animals. |
This is the Ark That
Noah Built • Activity pages at the back of the book give instructions for making a paper-plate lion/lamb mobile and a paper-bag donkey puppet. Unusual animal facts are included. • Have children use toy animals to act out the story. • Children can make up new verses about other animals. • Make animal masks from paper plates.
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From the Land of the White Birch • A separate 32-page teacher’s guide includes questions for reading comprehension, a unit to encourage children to write their own “how and why” story, a craft project, and reproducible activities to extend social studies and science. |
Liberty and Justice for All • A separate 32-page teacher’s guide has reproducible activities and craft ideas for reinforcing the core democratic values usually taught in grades 2-5.
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Who Will I Be? A Halloween Rebus Story This book is all about creativity! • Ask children who else the girl could be using the costume parts she has. What extra things would she need for each character they name? • Have children tell what costumes they would like to make. What will they need? • Provide a dress-up box where children can create costumes. Encourage children to find things to add to the box. • Have children choose a favorite storybook and decide what they would need to dress as one of the characters. • Create a collage art project with found objects. Provide geometric shapes in various colors, paper clips, craft sticks, puzzle pieces, game markers, etc. • Using just one shape, such as a circle, but in various colors and sizes, ask children what it could be. Have them glue the shapes on paper and draw the rest of the pictures. |
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• Have children collect items for retelling the story.
•
As the story is read encourage children to wave at the appropriate
time. After the phrase, “I’m taking a trip on my train,” is
read the reader should either say or blow a few toots on a whistle.
The rest of the children should echo the toots both in number and
length.
