Students retell Jan Brett’s “The Mitten” with cutout animal puppets in this delightful reading comprehension lesson

Title – The Mitten – Storytelling
By – Amy Hamiter
Primary Subject – Language Arts
Secondary Subject – Art
Grade Level – 1

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Language Arts Standards:

110.3(b)(12) Reading Comprehension: The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud and selections read independently. The student is expected to:
(A) use prior knowledge to anticipate meaning and make sense of texts

(C) retell or act out the order of important events in stories

Learning Objectives:

The student will:
• sit quietly and follow along as the teacher reads, without disruption.
• cut and paste animals correctly, without error
• select a partner and retell the story in a level one voice.

Materials:

• The Mitten by Jan Brett
• Animal printouts
• Manila construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Crayons

Pre-Activity Preparation:

• The teacher will:
  • create a printout with all of the animals from The Mitten
  • make copies of the animal printout for every student
  • make a stencil of a big mitten

Transition:

• Students will sit on the floor for the story and directions
• They will move to their desks for the activity

Hook:

They will be able to choose their own partner, but if it gets too loud, we will stop our fun activity.

Procedure:

1. Ask students to clear off desks and have a seat on the carpet at the front of the room.
2. Ask for a thumbs up if they have read The Mitten before.
3. Read The Mitten by Jan Brett.
4. Stop after every page and ask for a volunteer to tell the class what has happened.
5. When the story is over, review the whole story.
6. Ask questions.
7. Show an example of what we will be making.
8. Explain that they will get a piece of paper with all the animals from the story on it.
9. They will then color the animals and cut them out.
10. Students will glue the cutouts to manila paper and then cut that out (makes the cutouts more sturdy).
11. A mitten “stencil” will be given to each table for the students to trace, then cut out.
12. Explain that once everything is colored, traced, and cut out, they will now choose a partner and retell the story The Mitten using the cutout animals and mitten.
13. Once done with directions, students will go back to their desks and wait for the “paper presidents” to pass everything out.
14. They are free to start work when all materials are received.

Closure:

• Asking questions such as, do you remember the _______ being in the mitten? Do you think he would really fit in there?
• Asking the sequence of which animal went first, next, etc.
• The students re-telling the story to each other is a great way for them to review what was just read.

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