The Mitten – Activites, Lesson Plans and Ideas
The Mitten, by Jan Brett is an excellent book to read with your ELL students during the long Winter doldrums that continue on after the return back to school from the long holiday break.
I’d like to give my friend Miss Christie a special shout out for reminding me about what a fabulous resource Jan Brett’s book, The Mitten is for ELL students.
The main reason I like The Mitten is because it’s the perfect Winter themed activity that is great to use during the January/February doldrums.
The sites I’ve included below, contain lots of activities, lesson plans and ideas that you can use in your classroom.
Jan Brett’s Site – Includes some really cute PDF printouts that you can use to have the children retell the story while they “tuck” the animals inside the mittens.
The Animals that you can tuck inside the mitten.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Chinese New Year is a happy time of year. Why not get the kids excited about it with these fun filled of activities?
It’s my first Chinese New Year in China. Yippie!
Back home in The States, I usually celebrated the Lunar New Year with my Chinese friends. There was always a big celebration at the local university with lots of entertainment and yummy food.
Below, I have compiled a list of resources you can use in your classroom to help get the kids excited about Chinese New Year too:
- ichild.com has a whole page of links to print outs that will keep the kids busy for a while.
- Chinapage.com has a fact filled page that can be turned into a trivia game.
- Canteach.ca has some amusing Chinese New Year lyrics set to familiar tunes.
- Apples4theteachers.com has a large list of word magnets, worksheets, and word searches.
Additional resources:
- dltk’s holiday page
- Chinese lantern printable template
- The teacher’s corner – Chinese New Year page
- ABCTeach’s page with loads of worksheets
- Kaboose has a page full of craft ideas
- Firstpalett has many ideas to choose from
- Firstschool has loads of activities to keep the kids engaged
- Howstuffworks.com offers a page of creative and fun activities
- Kidscraftweekly.com has a page of art activities with step by step instructions on how to make a beautiful Chinese lantern and other stuff too
- Nickjr.com has 14 printables ready for you to use.
New Years Activities
Happy New Years Everybody!
Start the kids off right with a New Years resolution activity with this cute Resolutions to Ring in the New Year printable. This is what I did, first I explained what a resolution is. Next, I modeled it for them and showed them my example. Since I live in China now, I used the following example, “I want to improve my Chinese.” I put the sentence pattern on the board, “I want to improve my _______.” Each student was required to write the sentence (with the blank filled in) on the bell and draw colorful designs on it.
I followed it up with this cute little bear worksheet to reinforce sentence structure. On the drum, the students had to complete the sentence, “This year, I will…” using the two resolutions from the bells. For example, “This year, I will… improve my Chinese and English.”
For more fabulous New Years printables, check out Activity Village’s New Years page, abcteach’s page, and apples4teacher’s page.
Mom’s Break has some nice resources, such as a New Year’s trivia printable and more.
Parent’s Magazine has some printable New Years Cards.
The Teacher’s Corner has a loads of New Years thematic paper with lines to choose from.
Throwing a New Years party? Check out these elegant printables over at Living Locurto. Or these classy looking party invitations over at Love The Day.
Suite101 has a whole page of printable New Years links and Kaboose has loads of crafts that you can do on a budget with the kids.