January 2020's Animated Activities

The Mitten Activity

One of my favorite children's books is The Mitten by Jan Brett (this was also our Author of the Month for January). 

I combed through the internet for ideas on how to incorporate this book into an activity (I like to do at least one per month). 

My favorite (of the choices online) was a simple exercise where the kids could draw what animal was in their mitten. I put my own twist on it (spending hours cutting animals out of magazines) and let the kids at it. 

The materials - a worksheet I made myself on Word with a simple clip art image, cut outs of animals from magazines, glue sticks, markers and crayons. 

An example that I put out for the kids (done by my daughter). 

The dollar store sells a clear plastic stand that is perfect for setting out examples. 

They LOVED this activity - over 95% of the students participated! 

I gave the students the option of keeping their mitten project (most did) or giving it to the library. And once the project was completed (all classes had a chance to make a mitten) I made some artwork with the mittens that the students gave to me. 

Write your name in Braille

 January is International Braille Awareness month. While combing for literary holidays, I came across this fun fact. 

I wanted to find a way to incorporate this within my student's library time. So for their second optional activity, I searched up exercises that involved braille. 

The one I found (and thought would work best for their grade levels) was a "Write your name in Braille" exercise.

I downloaded the Braille alphabet and a template for "Write your name in Braille" and printed both off.

*This was challenging for my younger grade levels (Kindergarten/1st Grade). I would advise doing this activity with an older group. Some of them were able to figure it out with guidance, but it was a challenge for them.