Facebook Instagram Pinterest TeachersPayTeachers BlogLovin Home Image Map

January 27, 2014

More Fun with The Mitten


Here's another great activity I've been using with my preschoolers this week.  It's a simplified version of The Mitten by Jan Brett made into a printable book that the kids can take home.  It has repetitive text, so little ones can quickly join in with retelling the story, and it's folded accordion-style so the mitten gets bigger and bigger and BIGGER as the story progresses.   It's so fun!   I made two versions.  One with the animals printed on each page, and one with animals to cut and paste on each page.  Here's what the pages of the printable look like:




I'm going to show you how to put it all together to make a book.  Cut out each of the story strips and one mitten.  Cut the mitten in half, following the dotted line.  To assemble the book, I always start from the left side and work my way to the right.  Glue along the left edge of the strip that has the mole on it. Place the left mitten piece on top of the strip, matching up the edge of the mitten with the dotted line of the tab that has the glue.  Be sure to glue the story strip in the center of the mitten.  It should look like this:





Next, fold the rabbit page to the left, like this:


and fold the hedgehog page behind the animal page to the right, accordion-style.  Be sure to fold directly on the dotted lines between the pages.  It should look like this when you're finished with the first strip:




Next, glue the right edge of the hedgehog page, and glue the story strip that has the owl on it on top of the glue tab, matching up the dotted lines.

 Continue to fold these pages like an accordion, folding the owl to the left, the badger to the right, etc.  It should look like this:



Repeat for the remaining two strips, gluing on the tabs and folding in alternating directions.   At this point, if you collapse your accordion strips into a stack,"The End"  should be facedown on top of the animals in the snow.  Open the page and fold back the glue tab to the right of "The End" along the dotted line like this:



Glue along the edge that is folded back. Place the right side of the mitten piece on top of the glue tab, making sure that it's centered, like this:



When it's all folded together, it looks like this:



It looks harder to put together than it actually is.  It's just a little folding and a little gluing.  You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly!

My little ones and their mommies have LOVED this one.  If you love it, too, you can find it at my TpT store here.

Stay warm and cozy!



8 comments:

  1. I love the concept of this and so many language concepts to target with this activity, but I don't like that you then read the story backwards (right to left). I wonder if there's a way to alter the order of the pictures, so that the book can read correctly (left to right).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy, I appreciate your feedback! Originally when I designed this book, I had the order of pictures reversed and found it awkward to use. But that could just be me and my idiosyncrasies. I can change the order of the pictures if you'd like. Just shoot me an email and I'll get that to you as soon as possible. But then, please do me a favor and let me know how it works for you. I may need to repost it that way for everyone!

      Delete
  2. I totally agree with Cindy! I love the activity and how you added some language concepts to the simple text. I would really like to purchase this...I have several groups in mind, This makes a great activity for retell. Having the finished product read left to right would be important for me though (although my own kids, who are lefties, would probably love it this way! haha!) Thanks for the great activity!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emily! I have changed the order of the pages now and will post the corrected version in just a bit. I still find it awkward though when using it, because all the folded pages end up being on the right and you have to hold them in your right hand instead of just pulling them from the stack. Let me know what you think if you purchase it and use it. Thanks!

      Delete
    2. Thanks so much Pam! I'll definitely let you know!

      Delete
    3. Oh yes! The left-->right was great! Thanks for changing it so quickly! The kids loved pulling it across when the bear sneezes and letting all of the animals "fly out"! I used this with K-2 students and my three classes of students with autism (varying levels of verbal output and communication). They loved it!

      Delete
  3. Super cute activity! Love that I can have the kids create it in therapy and then take it home! :)

    ReplyDelete