M is for Mouse

Last week we celebrated the Letter M and I think that mice go perfectly with M. Our Houghton Mifflin Alphafriend was Mimi Mouse so we made a traveling book "Mimi Mouse likes to play with _____" and the kids had to write a word that started with M and draw a picture of it with Mimi Mouse. We send these "traveling books" home in a laminated cover to a new child each day (name cross off on the back). 

Mimi Mouse Traveling Book

 We read the book "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh. I had a "mommy helper" read the book and we took red / yellow / blue color paddles and mixed colors on top of mice I traced from the book onto transparency paper (we had a big box of it in the supply closet at school since no one uses overhead projectors anymore). We also mixed colors and painted a color wheel with Q-Tips. We did tear art the next day. We pretended the footprint tracks (ex. red / blue) mixed together and turned the mouse a new color (ex. purple). 

Mixing colors on the light tables with "Mouse Paint"

Using Q-Tips to mix colors...love seeing the kids get excited realizing red + yellow makes orange, etc. 

Mouse Paint Tear Art 

We played mouse math. The kids would roll the dice and feed the mouse that correct number of cheese (yellow and oranges cut up sponges). We even did it whole group taking turns rolling so we could record some addition problems. 

Using GLAD pictoral input strategies we learned all about a mouse and recorded it in our ongoing GLAD journals. I have the parent draw the letters and animal / person to model on a white board. Then as the kids are coloring the volunteer goes around and dictates the date and a complete sentence of what the student has learned about (this week a mouse). 

We made mouse shelters/habitats out of blocks, legos, lincoln logs, and Magna Tiles. This was an independent center and I used rubbery mice I found around Halloween and some cat toy soft mice. They LOVED this! 

After reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff we played the game "Cookies on a Plate." I combine 2 boxes of this game so we have enough cookies for each student to try to put their 10 cookies on a plate first. 

We also made another traveling book with our own version of the story. "If you give a _____ a _____ she/he will probably want ______." I loved how creative they got. Some examples, "If you give Lilly a hot dog she'll probably want some ketchup" or "If you give Lucy a fairy she'll probably want a want." 

Our chant/song for the week. A little gruesome, but the kids think it's funny and it reminds us why we don't want mice in our kitchen....although I doubt anyone would run around cutting off their tails off with a knife. 

 And the BEST....mouse hats! This center is exhausting, but look how cute they kids are in them. Especially with a little piece of cheese to nibble on!!! 

One of my fabulous mommy helpers and her little mouse 

We had such a fun week! M is for Mouse in Preppie-K!