The Mitten by Jan Brett, is one of my favorite winter stories. This year when I pulled out my packet, I thought it was significantly lacking. So when I saw the awesome clipart Cheri used for her (awesome!) school aged Mitten packet I bought it for myself! This is the preschool unit I came up with. The packet is 45 pages and incudes a variety of activities to use along with Jan Brett’s The Mitten. Pages 3-8: Object Functions: Mitten pictures include one picture. Have student describe the functions of that object. They can also list other attributes. 40 cards. Pages 9-12: Associations: Match each set of association mittens. Have the student explain how the words are related. 24 cards. Pages 13-19: Pronouns & Verbs: Draw cards and have students develop a sentence using a pronoun & verb. A set of reference cards for each subjective pronoun is included. 40 cards. Pages 20-23: Comprehension: After reading the book, have your students answer the comprehension questions. 18 cards. Pages 24-26: Sequencing: After reading the book, have your students sequence the picture cards. 11 cards. Pages 27-35: Basic Concepts: Use the cards to have students identify/name basic spatial concepts. Complete a small/big sorting activity with animal pictures and sorting mats. 20 cards, 2 Sorting mats, 20 size cards. Pages 36-37: Comparatives & Superlatives: Sequence the pictures and identify big, bigger, biggest. 6 cards. Page 38: Blank Mittens: Color and draw on the mittens or use them to write articulation words for homework. Page 39: Cut and Glue Activity: Cut out the characters and glue them onto the mitten. Retell the story throughout the activity. Page 40-43: Puppets: Take each animal and attach it to a tongue depressor. Use each picture to act out the story. Use verbs and descriptors to talk about how each animal moves into the mitten. 11 pictures. I bring a pillowcase to use as our ‘mitten’ when we act this out! Pages 44-45: Extras: Use the ‘Uh-oh’ cards with any of the sets to make the activity into a game. Use the blank cards to develop your own mitten activities. You can grab this document for purchase in my TPT store. Other ways I use the book: Bring a box of winter clothes (including mittens) and let your students take turns ‘dressing the SLP’ work on following directions and basic concepts! (Put the hat on my foot.) Bring a mitten and hide objects inside. Work on listening skills and inferencing by giving the preschool group clues about what is hidden in your mitten! Do you read The Mitten? What’s your favorite activity?
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sgc525 says
Thank you! Just this morning I was searching for materials/activities for this book! These are awesome!!
TeachSpeech365 says
I love Jan Brett’s books – I have every single one she has written and/or illustrated! If you’re interested – you can email her and request that she send you her “teacher’s packet.” I just received mine in the mail and it is amazing!
Arlen says
Thank you! I can’t wait to get this. The pre-k classes at my school read this book every year, so this is perfect!
CC says
LOVE! 🙂
Lindsay C. says
Love this, Jenna! Timing is perfect – we’ll be using this for our Winter unit right after the holiday break 🙂
Carrie Manchester says
Great job Jenna! This is great! 🙂
Steps2speech says
This is so darn cute it’s ridiculous! Thx! How do you do it?
kreinacher says
So a few weeks back I purchased your Mitten packet and have been using it all week with all of my kids. It has been a big hit! As the week has gone on I have added and adjusted a few activities to extend the ideas. One group was working on synonyms so I printed out some pictures and glued one picture on one side and the synonym on the other. The students had to find the pairs and draw a line to join them. Another thing that I needed was a couple of articulation activities so one day we just glued artic pictures on the mittens. Another day I found a picture of a snowy house, tree, and a mitten and copied them onto light blue construction paper. We then took small pieces of white tissue paper and crinkled them up so after they said their word/sent/whatever they glued one on the paper. When they were done they had a winter scene. My final idea will take shape tomorrow during my Early Childhood Special Ed. Groups. I have scavenged a few ideas from other bloggers and sources (sorry, since it is now 10 at night And I am brain-dead, I cannot pull the names of some of he sources off the top of my head). We will start the group off by reselling the story and using Jenna’s animal pictures, make a story stick with paint stirrers. Then I plan on taking a white sheet into work tomorrow and draping it over our large snack table to represent our mitten. Using Jenna’s animal puppets, we will sing the following song (to the tune of Farm in he Dell….song idea from Mailbox I believe) The ______\goes in he mitten. The ______goes in the mitten. Help me please so we on’t freeze, the ____goes in the mitten. The child with that animal gets to go under the table.
These were just a few ideas that I thought others may be able to use to extend an already fabulous packet!