The Mitten- Jan Brett

Mini-Lesson Series
Title: Introduction to The Mitten
Date:
Time:
Overview/Objectives: This is the story that will be the basis of my first mini-unit.
11/27/14 15
This is the initial introduction to the story, which will be followed up by subsequent
minutes relevant activities next week.
Learning Outcomes
Materials and Resources
Early Literacy
The Mitten by Jan Brett
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes,
Activities
views, and represents to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and
Review instructions for the library:
experiences
sit close, quiet voices, etc.
Clarifies and Extends
open shut them poem
o Considers the ideas of others
Read the story:
Listens to experiences and feelings shared
o Pointing out pictures
by others
o Clarifying the word Baba
o Combine Ideas
and what it means, pointing
Connects related ideas and information
out that this story is from a
o Extends Understanding
different culture- Ukrainian
Expresses interest in new ideas and
o After the mouse crawls into
experiences
the mitten, ask, by show of
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes,
hands, what they think is
views, and represents to comprehend and respond personally
going to happen next
and critically to oral, print, and other media texts
After the story, ask them:
Uses Strategies and Cues
o If they remember one of the
o Use Prior Knowledge
animals that crawled into
Connects oral language with print and
the mitten
pictures
o What colour the mitten was
Expects print and pictures to have meaning
o What the name Nicki used

and to be related to each other in print and

other media texts
o Use Comprehension Strategies
Asks questions and makes comments during
listening and reading activities
Responds to Texts
o Experiences Various Texts
Participates in shared listening, reading and
viewing experiences, using oral, print, and
other media texts from a variety of cultural
traditions and genres, such as picture books,
fairy tales, rhymes, stories, photographs,
illustrations, and video programs
Listens and views attentively
Understands Forms, Elements, and Techniques
o Understands Forms and Genres
Experiences a variety of oral, print, and
other media texts
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes,
views, and represents to manage ideas and information
Plans and Focuses
o Focuses Attention
Makes statements about topics under
discussion

for grandmother was

Assessment
Choose two students and observe
their:
o Behaviour during the story
(following directions,
listening, etc.)
o Seeming comprehension
during and after the story
(are they putting their hands
up to answer questions, are
the answers relevant and
accurate, etc.)
o Seeming engagement in the
story (beyond simply
following the rules of sitting
quietly, are they actively
engaged)

Title: The Mitten: Animals and Sorting Activity

Date: 12/1/14 Time: 30
Overview: This lesson involves re-reading The Mitten. During the
Minutes
story, props are used to solidify the story as well as increase an
understanding of the animals involved. The lesson ends with a sorting

activity, which teaches students the concept that many animals may
take the same form (specifically applies to ELL learners)
Learning Outcomes:
Early Literacy
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to explore thoughts,
ideas, feelings, and experiences.
Expresses ideas and develops understanding Talks about ideas, experiences, and familiar
events
Experiments with language and forms Talks and represents to explore, express and share stories,
ideas, and experiences
Considers the ideas of others Listens to experiences and feelings shared by others
Combines ideas Connects related ideas and information
Extends understanding Expresses interest in new ideas and experiences
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to comprehend and
respond personally and critically to oral, print, and other media texts
Uses prior knowledge Connects oral language with print and pictures
Uses comprehension strategies Recalls events and characters in familiar stories read aloud by
others
Uses phonics and structural analysis Begins to make connections among sounds, letters, words,
pictures, and meaning
Experiences various texts Participates in shared listening, reading, and viewing experiences,
using oral, print, and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such as
picture books, fairy tales, rhymes, stories, photographs, illustrations, and video programs; Listens
and views attentively
Understands forms and genres Experiences a variety of oral, print, and other media texts
Generates ideas Contributes ideas and answers questions related to experiences and familiar
oral, print, and other media texts
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to manage ideas and
information

Focuses attention Attends to oral, print, and other media texts on topics of interest; Makes
statements about topics under discussion
Accesses information Uses illustrations, photographs, video programs, objects, and auditory
cures to access information
Organizes information Categorizes objects and pictures according to visual similarities and
differences
Shares ideas and information Shares ideas and information about topics of interest
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to enhance the clarity
and artistry of communication
Expands knowledge of language Explores and experiments with new words and terms associated
with topics of interest
Demonstrates attentive listening and viewing Follows one or two step instructions; Makes
comments that relate to the topic being discussed
General Outcome: The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to respect, support,
and collaborate with others
Relates texts to culture Explores oral, print, and other media texts from various communities
Uses language to show respect Uses appropriate words, phrases and statements with adults and
peers when speaking and listening, sharing, and taking turns
Cooperates with others Participates in class and group activities
Early Numeracy
General Outcome: Number- Develop number sense
Says the number sequence 1 to 10 by 1s, starting anywhere from 1 to 10 and from 10 to 1
General Outcome: Patterns and Relations- Use patterns to describe the world and to solve problems
Sorts a set of objects based on a single attribute, and explains the sorting rule
General Outcome: Shape and space- use direct and indirect measurement to solve problems
Uses direct comparison to compare two objects based on a single attribute such as length, mass,
and volume
Citizenship and Identity: Being Together
General Outcome: Social participation as a democratic process

The child demonstrates the skills of cooperation, conflict resolution, and consensus building
o Demonstrates a willingness to share space and resources
General Outcome: Communication
Demonstrates skills of oral, written, and visual literacy
o Listens to others in a socially appropriate manner
o Responds appropriately to comments and questions, using language respectful of human
diversity
Environment and Community Awareness
General Outcome: The child demonstrates curiosity, interest, and a willingness to learn about the
environment and community
Shows awareness of similarities and differences in living things, objects, and materials
Demonstrates awareness of the properties of objects and events in the environment by
o Describing some properties
o Sorting objects according to common properties
o Arranging objects or events in logical order
o Matching objects or events as being the same or as going together
o Distinguishing between similar objects, based on one or more characteristics
General Outcome: The child explores familiar places and things in the environment and community
Recognizes familiar animals and their characteristics and surroundings
Personal and Social Responsibility
General Outcome: The child develops positive attitudes and behaviours toward learning
Demonstrates curiosity, interest, and some persistence in learning activities
Participates actively in learning tasks
Shows willingness to explore and expand learning, and to try new things
Expresses preferences, and identifies basic personal likes and dislikes
General Outcome: The child accepts and practices responsibility
Follows the rules and routines of familiar environments
Follows directions of the teacher and other school staff
General Outcome: The child contributes to group activities

 Listens to peers and adults

Takes turns in activities and discussions
Joins in some small and large group games and activities
Physical Skills and Wellbeing
General Outcome: The child develops fine motor and perceptual motor skills through participation in a
variety of activities
Develops fine motor skills involving finger speed, arm steadiness, arm and hand precision, finger
and hand dexterity, and the manipulation of small materials
Prior Learning: Initial reading of a simplified version of The Mitten, with the same storyline but fewer
words. This was read because of is more accessible for ELL students as an introduction to the story.
Associated Vocabulary
Materials and Resources
Mole
The Mitten book by Jan Brett
Rabbit
Small white mitten
Hedgehog
Large white mitten
Fox
Stuffed animal versions of an: owl, mole,
rabbit, fox, hedgehog, bear, mouse, and
Bear
badger
Mouse
Additional stuffed hedgehogs, rabbits, and
Badger
bears
Owl
Photographs of hedgehogs, rabbits, and
Mitten
bears (different types, angles, etc.)
Popsicle sticks with student names on them
16 mini magnifying glasses
Whiteboard and marker
Tim
Teacher Activity
Student Activity
Resources
e
0-2
Guide students to the carpet. Tell them we
Listen and answer questions
N/A
are reading The Mitten again- a longer
and prompts
version. Ask them who remembers (hands

up) what happens during the story.

2-5

Bring out large and small versions of the

Listen and respond to
mitten. Ask which is the size a regular person questions.
would wear. Discuss how it would stretch out
to look like the larger one when the animals
went in it. Ask/clarify what the word stretch
means. Clarify that in real life it would not
stretch as large as a bear, but it might
5-15 stretch a bit.
Participate in the discussion
Begin reading the story through. On the page of animal sequencing, and, if
before each animal goes into the mitten, ask called, place animals inside
students if they know which animal comes
mitten.
next. Then, read the page where the animal
crawls in the mitten and produce the stuffedanimal version at the same time. Finally,
draw one of the class popsicle sticks to see
who will get to place the stuffed animal in
the larger mitten. Make sure to say how
15many animals are in the mitten each time
18
one is added. Write animal name and
number on the whiteboard.
Use magnifying glasses to go
around the classroom and
Tell the students that there are more stuffed
search for the animals
animals placed around the classroom, and it
(movement/body break)
is their job to find the animals and bring
them back to the carpet, placing them in the
center (movement break). They are given
magnifying glasses and told they are

Small and large

white mittens

The Mitten book,

large white mitten,
popsicle sticks,
stuffed animals,
whiteboard and
marker

Additional stuffed
bears, rabbits, and
hedgehogs

1828

2930

detectives that need to go find the animals.

Tell them they will not need to move
anything or open any boxes to find the
animals. All they need are their eyes and
their magnifying glasses. Only use your eyes,
not your hands, until you find the animal.
Then you can use your hands to bring it to
the carpet. Once all the animals are found,
Learn about defining
come back to the carpet, form a circle, and
characteristics of three
sit down.
animals, and as a class
answer questions about
All the animals are put in a big pile, including whether animals fall in certain
those from the physical mitten. The
categories.
photographs are also added. Teacher picks
the rabbit up and asks what it is. Then pick
up a different looking one and ask what that
one is. Clarify that rabbits, or bunnies, have
long floppy ears. Pick another rabbit and ask
what that one is. Pick a different animal and
ask if its a rabbit. Go through the same
process with hedgehogs and bears. The
Listen and participate in
hedgehog characteristic is the pointy back,
discussion.
and the bears will be its ears and snout.
Closure to the lesson will take the form of
asking them what all rabbits, bears, and
hedgehogs each have (in common and what
they have thats unique). Tell them briefly
what will happen in the next lesson.
Differentiated Instruction

All stuffed animals

and photographs of
animals

N/A

Assessment

Instruction for the English Language Learners is incorporated into the

lesson by emphasizing sounds, language, and vocabulary. Students are
encouraged to say the animal names together as a group to practice. This
is naturally also helpful for learners whose first language is English, but is
particularly useful for the ELL students.
The child with behavioural defiance will hopefully be highly engaged by
the lesson, and the movement break may help him to stay calm and
focused. Teacher will know where his popsicle stick is and intentionally
draw it if he is behaving well.

Anecdotal and formative

assessment examining the
following factors:
Participation and
following directions
Ability to distinguish
animals by
characteristic
Teacher records by a
checklist of names whether
students successfully
achieved the above goals of
the lesson or not.

The child who is currently at the developmental age of a three year old will
be attended to in the lesson by the use of engaging visual materials to
help to hold his interest and attention. The visual depiction of putting
animals into the physical mitten may help him to understand the story
better.
Subsequent Learning: Further lessons, which may include a mitten art project in which students
develop their own mitten and animals to put inside it, literacy activities with the first letter of the animal
names, etc.)

Title: The Mitten: Create Your Own Mitten

Date: 12/3/14 Time: 30
Overview: This lesson is related to the story The Mitten, by Jan
Minutes
Brett. Students will create their own mitten, on which they are free to
express their creativity openly (i.e., they have a wide variety of
materials available to them and they are allowed to create their mitten
as they wish).
Primary Learning Outcomes:
Creative Expression
Experiments with a variety of art materials to create two and three dimensional forms
Experiments with line, colour, shape, texture, and pattern in diverse media to explore and express

ideas
Prior Learning: Students have read The Mitten twice. One of the readings involved an interactive
activity in which students placed stuffed animal versions of the animals into the story into a large mitten
as the story progressed. Students by this point are very familiar with the story.
Associated Vocabulary
Materials and Resources
Mitten
16 large sheets of paper, pre-cut into the
shape of a mitten
Markers
Pencil Crayons
Pom-Poms
Squares and rectangles of different coloured
paper
Glue
Other assorted art and craft materials
Completed sample of a mitten
The Mitten by Jan Brett (as a reference)
Tim
Teacher Activity
Student Activity
Resources
e
0-5
Guide students to the carpet. Explain that we Listen and participate in
Completed sample
will be doing another activity about The
discussion
of mitten
Mitten.
The Mitten book
Why do you think the book was called
(as a reference)
The Mitten?. Ask:
Which animals went into the mitten?.
Tell students that today they get to create
their own mitten. This one doesnt have to
be white. In the story, Nickis mittens were
white because what he wanted most was
white mittens. I want you to your make

mitten however YOU want to make it.

Express yourself however you want to. There
are lots of important times where we learn
how to colour inside the lines and how to
draw very specific things, like with Mat Man.
This time, however, you get to do exactly
what you want.
If you could make a pair of mittens, what
would they look like?
On the tables there are lots of different
materials that you can use to make your
mitten. These materials are all very new and
exciting.
What will you remember to do when using
these new materials? (keep them tidy, be
patient, take only what you need, dont
spread them everywhere, etc. etc.)
When you get to the tables, please make
sure that you go to your spot. The materials
5-6
are the same on each table, so make sure
you stay at your table the whole time. This is
about taking your time to do a good job, not
6-20 rushing!
Have helper choose who is ready to go to
their table.
Facilitate by encouraging the use of many
different materials and colours, and by

N/A
Go to table and get started
when chosen
Use many different materials
and work quietly. Express
creativity.

Mitten pages and

all art and craft
materials

reinforcing proper usage of materials such as

scissors and glue sticks.
When students finish, get them to write their
names on the back.
Differentiated Instruction
Instruction for the English Language Learners is incorporated
into the lesson by showing the visual example of a
completed mitten.
The child who is currently at the developmental age of a
three year old will be attended to in the lesson in that it is
accessible to learners of all levels and abilities. He will still
be able to create a mitten using his own creative expression
and ideas.

Assessment
Formative assessment with rubric,
examining the following factors:
Participation and following
directions
Usage of a variety of materials and
colours
Uniqueness of work

Subsequent Learning: If time permits, guided drawing activities will be conducted for the animals that
go into the mitten in the story. Students will then place their drawings of the animals into a pocket in
their own custom mittens.
Title: Mitten Self Assessment Activity
Date:
Time: 30
Overview: This lesson is a continuation of the series of lessons on
11/12/14
minutes
The Mitten. Students are given back the mitten they created and
begin to understand the concept of self-assessment by marking
themselves on a simple rubric.
Primary Learning Outcomes:
Early Literacy
The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings,
and experiences combines ideas connects related ideas and information
The child listens, speaks, reads, writes, views, and represents to enhance the clarity and artistry of
communication presents information follows one or two step instructions

Early Numeracy
Number develop number sense says the number sequence 1-10 by 1s, relates a numeral to
its respective quantity
Environment and Community Awareness
The child explores familiar places and things in the environment and community becomes aware
of colours, shapes, patterns, and textures in the environment
Prior Learning: Prior lessons on and exposure to The Mitten by Jan Brett, knowledge of basic colours,
and introduction to writing numbers.
Associated Vocabulary
Materials and Resources
Self-assessment
The Mitten by Jan Brett (as a reference)
Numbers 1-10
Previously created mittens
Colours
Rubric
Shade
Sheet of colours
Sample mitten created for last lesson
iPad app: Number
Magnets
Steps of activity cutouts
Pencils
Tim
Teacher Activity
Student Activity
Resources
e
Number Review
Listen, ask questions,
iPad Number
Students have had some exposure to writing participate in discussion.
application
the numbers 1-10. The prior exposure will be
reinforced using the Number iPad
application, which, among other things,
allows students to trace the outline of
numbers with their fingers as practice.
Students have used this application before.
0-3

4-9

1012
1217

Review prior activity with the iPads where we

use only the number game. Hand students
the iPads out and put them into pairs. Have
them navigate together to the proper
component of the app. Our sharing rule will
be one number per partner, then to pass it
along.
Facilitate and monitor as students spend 5
minutes practicing numbers.

Practice tracing numbers with

a partner, using the
Number application on the
iPads.
Follow directions of helper.

Ring the bell. Ask the class helper to collect

the iPads.
Colour Counting + Rubric
Today we are going to do something called
self-assessment. This means we are going to
look at the work we did beforein this case
the mittens you created (show sample
mitten)and try to decide what kinds of
things we did very well and what kinds of
things we should keep working on. Today
what we will look at is how many different
colours you used in your mitten. Remember
that one of the only instructions for last time
was to use as many colours and materials as
possible.
Everyone say self-assessment. Who can tell

Listen and participate in

discussion.

Colours sheet,
magnets, pencil,
sample mitten

me what that means?

The first thing you are going to do is take
this sheet of colours (show sheet) and put a
check mark (show how to make a
checkmark) for colour that is on your mitten.
Show an example of how I would do it on
mine, using a sample page attached to the
board. Point out that there are multiple
shades of pink and other colours, but that
they all count as pink. Go through the entire
list of colours, getting them to name each
colour before checking the sample mitten.
Have them determine if that colour is on the
sample mitten.
Once you are finished with this activity, you
will count the number of checkmarks only,
and write the number at the bottom. Do it
the right way and the incorrect way to show
them.

1820

The last thing you are going to do is put a

mark on this rubric (show rubric). If you think
you used lots and lots of colours, circle the
big smiley face. If you think you used some
colours, circle the middle smiley face. If you
think you could have used more colours,
circle the straight face. Have them assess
the sample mitten for colours.

Rubric

Colour sheets

2130

Remind what kind of work they are going to

do. How are you going to do a good job
working today (remind name on the back of
both sheets, use pencil, quiet, put up your
hand when you are done each step, etc.)?

Pencils, colour
sheets, rubric
Follow the three steps in the
activity, asking for help when
needed.

Ask them what the three steps are, and

review one last time.
Have the class helper hand out the first
sheet and have students go to desks.
Facilitate and assist as needed. When
students complete both components of the
first sheet, give them the second sheet.
Put the steps on the board: step 1, colours,
step 2, write the number of colours, step 3,
choose a smiley face that fits on the rubric.
Differentiated Instruction
The student with Noonans
syndrome will be catered to in
this activity by being given help
with the counting. The digit
number will be written in yellow
marker or highlighter for him to
trace over.

Assessment

Self-Assessment
Use of rubric to determine number of colours used
Peer Assessment
Discussion of mitten, saying what they liked about the other
persons mitten
Teacher Assessment
Accuracy of self-assessment (i.e., is the number of colours they
counted true to the actual number of colours on the mitten?)
Subsequent Learning: Have students go into pairs to discuss their mittens together. Help them to

understand what kind of useful comments might be, at this time only positive feedback. Explain how to
go beyond saying its good. Continue to be exposed to and utilize rubrics as a form of self-assessment.
Slowly introduce more pointed peer-assessment. Gradually increase complexity of each of these tasks.