Chrystanthemum is one of my favorite beginning of the year books. But, after doing it so many years in a row, I needed to change up the activities that I did after I read the book aloud. Last year I found an adorable Chrysanthemum activity on Mrs. Bonzer's website . I did it with my class and they loved it. We had the bouquet of flowers in my classroom all year as a decoration. I then sent home the flowers on the last day of school. When I passed them out at the end of the year, the students even remembered why they had put the number of leaves, petals and popsicle sticks. I'm definetely going to do it again this year. Here's a picture of our bouquet:
Another thing I do with this book is I made a picture of Chrysanthemum and then laminated it. As I'm reading the story, each time Chrysanthemum is made fun of, I let a volunteer draw a line over her with a vis-a-vis marker to show how hurt she is from the awful way she is being treated. At the end of the story, we wipe her clean because she feels a lot better.
If you have any other cute ideas for Chrysanthemum, post a comment. I'd love to hear them.
Check out Learning With Mrs. Parker to see other great beginning of the year reading ideas.
7 comments:
Love this idea! When I try to click on Mrs. Bonzar's link, it doesn't work! I'm going to try to google it, but would you link it just in case!
Thanks!
Amanda
www.frolickingthroughfirst.blogspot.com
Cute idea! I might read this book as well! I am new to blogging, so if you get a moment hop over and check out my blog :)
Sarah
Fantastic 1st Grade
OMG! Is this THE Cindy I know??? Myakka Cindy??? I totally just looked at your about me after i commented!!! I didn't know you blogged!
Sarah
I love this book. Thanks for sharing the idea to go with the book as well.
Hi Cindy! You just found my blog (ateenytinyteacher) and now I'm visiting yours. Super cute! I'm your newest follower! :)
I love your ideas for this book! I also read this during the first week of school. We do a variety of activities...including the flowers above! I also have them do a Glyph on their name. I found a new name glyph on TPT this year that I am going to try out. We graphed the number of letters in our name (since her name was so long!). This is one of my favorite books/authors. I am a new follower and a new blogger! Thanks!
Tales of a Third Grade
I love the bouquet to come into the room! I also teach 1st grade. I do a similar activity to your picture showing how she's made fun of. I cut out a large heart out of construction paper. Each time she is made fun of, I tear off a piece of the heart. Then as she begins to feel a little better I tape the pieces back together until it's whole again at the end of the book. I then talk to the kids about how mean words are "heartbreakers." We can apologize and make the person feel better, but we can't completely take them back. Our heart at the end doesn't look the same as it did in the beginning. Then I hang the heart up in the classroom as a reminder to use kind words, not heartbreakers.
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