Teacher CyberGuide

Cyberguide by Sheron Mehl

www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mit/mittg.html

Copyright�1997 -- San Diego County Office of Education

Please forward your comments to the project director.

Introduction

This supplemental unit was developed as part of the Schools of California Online for Educators (SCORE) Project funded by the California Technology Assistance Program (CTAP).

DisclaimerDisclaimer: The links here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Web change continuously. Teachers should preview all links before introducing CyberGuides to students.

Using Jan Brett's The Mitten, cross age students will use the Internet to learn more about how Jan Brett created her illustrations and how she was inspired to write her own version of the original Ukrainian folk.

In their study of The Mitten, students will focus on the following questions:

• What makes Jan Brett a successful author and illustrator?
• From where does she get her ideas for her story and artwork?
• What interesting facts can be found about the animals in The Mitten?



Objectives and Standards

During this unit, students will:

• Read and reflect on informational text
• Apply understanding of art techniques
• Initiate an e-mail correspondence (All e-mail correspondence should be routed through the teacher's e-mail address.)
• Produce an oral retelling of The Mitten using masks



Implementation Overview

This K-3 unit assumes that intermediate cross age tutors will help small groups of primary students read information on the Internet and complete activities. Student activities lead to a culminating project in which groups of students, wearing animal masks they have made, retell The Mitten in oral presentations to the class. 



Description of Materials, Activities and WWW Sites

• Classroom collections of Jan Brett: The Mitten, Berlioz the Bear, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The First Dog Annie, Wild Animals
• Alvin Tresselt, The Mitten
• E-mail account routed through the teacher
• Journals
• Art materials: watercolors, markers, pens, pencils, and scissors
• Optional stories on mittens and shelter
  • Steven Kellogg, The Mystery of the Missing Red Mitten
  • Jean Rogers, The Runaway Mittens
  • Jean Rogers, The Three Little Kittens
  • Mirra Ginsburg, Mushroom in the Rain
  • Robert Bright, My Red Umbrella

 

Grade Level Readability: All sites below are appropriate for grades K-3 with assistance from cross age tutors.

Student Activity 1

After reading The Mitten, students visit Jan Brett's home page to learn about her. The final activity product will be a reflective journal entry.

Jan Brett's Homepage I
URL: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/brett.htm


Jan Brett's Homepage II
URL: http://www.janbrett.com


Student Activity 2

After visiting The Mitten Newsnotes Page, students with cross age tutors will record information about the making of The Mitten and create a Jan Brett-like border for their journals.

The Mitten Newsnotes Page

URL: http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_newsnotes2.htm

Student Activity 3

With cross age tutors, students write an e-mail letter to Jan Brett.

Jan Brett's E-mail account

URL: http://www.janbrett.com/email/email.html

Student Activity 4

From a Jan Brett web site that offers eight animal mask templates, students choose different masks to make. (Printer necessary.) Using these masks, students present an oral presentation of The Mitten.

The links below point to individual masks from Jan Brett's activity page:

The Rabbit	The Hedgehog	The Owl	The Badger
The Mole (Print in landscape mode)	The Fox (Print in landscape mode)	The Bear (Print in landscape mode)	The Mouse (Print in landscape mode)

 



Performance Standards

Rubrics for each student product may be found in the respective Student Activity.

   

Notes from the teacher/writer of this CyberGuide:

This CyberGuide is currently being field tested.

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