
Magical
Mittens

Mittens
Mittens for the snow time
When the world is white.
Mittens for my two hands.
Mittens left and right.
Mittens with a thumb place.
Mittens warm and snug.
Mittens make me feel like
A bug inside a rug!
~ Author Unknown
~
         
Books:
The Mitten ~ Jan
Brett
The Mitten ~
Alvin Tresselt
The Mitten Tree
~ Candace Christiansen
The Three Little
Kittens
The Missing
Mitten Mystery ~ Steven Kellogg
M is for Mittens
- A Michigan Alphabet ~ Annie Appleford
Missing Mittens
~ Stuart Murphy
Buying Mittens ~
Nankichi Niimi (a Japanese fairy tale)
Caps, Hats,
Socks, and Mittens: A Book About the 4 Seasons ~ Louise Borden
One Mitten -
Kristine George
Mittens
I have three
pairs of mittens;
Yellow, red, and blue.
If I ever lose a pair,
I will still have two.
But it never works that way,
That's not the way it's done.
I never seem to lose the pair -
All I lose is one!
And at the end of winter,
I have three mittens there:
One blue, one red, one yellow,
But not a single pair!
~ Author Unknown
~
Warm Mittens
I wiggle my left hand,
I wiggle my right,
Inside of my mittens,
So warm and so tight.
I wiggle my pinkie,
I wiggle my thumb,
So when I make snowballs,
My hands don't get numb.
~ Author Unknown
~
Mittens
Mittens are warm,
Mittens are grand,
Mittens are like shoes
For my hands.
~ Author Unknown ~
Mittens
Stripes or dots or sparkling white,
Mittens in winter fit just right.
Wool and cotton, maybe leather-
Mittens warm us in cold weather.
In rainbow colors and darkest black,
Mittens fit in a pocket or in your pack.
Thumbs alone, fingers together,
We love mittens in the cold, cold weather.
~ Author Unknown
~
Colorful Mittens
(tune: Six Little Ducks)
Colorful mittens for me and you
Red ones, yellow ones, blue ones too.
But the one pair of mittens that rhymes with fellow,
They're my favorite mittens, they're the color yellow!
Replace with other rhyming pairs such as:
red/bed
bean/green
sink/pink
~ Author Unknown
~
* you can also
cut out a mitten on the front of a file folder (like you would if
you were making a stencil). Then inside the folder place a
sheet of construction paper the color of each "mitten" and as you
sing the song/say the rhyme you remove the sheet of construction
paper on the front. This makes the mitten change colors to
match the rhyme. Once you've done the rhyme several times, you
can pause before saying the color word and removing the paper to see
if your students can provide the appropriate color using their
rhyming skills.
The Mitten
(tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
The mole is in the mitten.
The mole is in the mitten.
Mi-mo the merry-o,
The mole is in the mitten.
The rabbit is in the mitten.
The rabbit is in the mitten.
Ri-ro the rerry-o,
The rabbit is in the mitten.
* continue
changing animals and sounds to match
~ Author Unknown
~
Mittens
Thumbs in the thumbs place
Fingers all together
This is the song we
Sing in mitten weather.
When it is cold
It doesn't matter whether
Mittens are made of wool
Or even finest leather.
Thumbs in the thumb place
Fingers all together
This is the song we
Sing in mitten weather.
~ Author Unknown
~
The Mitten
(tune: The
Farmer in the Dell)
The mitten in
the snow,
The mitten in
the snow.
Help us please
so we won't freeze,
The mitten in
the snow.
A _____ squeezes
in,
A _____ squeezes
in.
Help us please
so we won't freeze,
The mitten in
the snow.
* continue with
different animals
~ Author Unknown
~
Flannelboard
Story: My students love this story. We did it several
times with the appropriate color felt mittens. Then I put all
the mittens on the board and said the rhyme leaving off the color
word; they had to tell me which color mitten to pick up.
My poor little
kitten lost her mitten
And started to cry, boo-hoo.
So I helped my kitten to look for her mitten.
Her beautiful mitten of BLUE.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under my mother's bed.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored RED.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under my father's pillow.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored YELLOW.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
On the hand of my brother's toy clown.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored BROWN.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under the laundry so clean.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored GREEN.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Inside a grocery bag.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored BLACK.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under the kitchen sink.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored PINK.
I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Inside my favorite shoe.
And this time the mitten was just the right mitten,
For it was colored BLUE!
~ Author Unknown
~
The Mitten:
Before the students arrive, place a white construction paper
mitten on your white board. Read The Mitten by Jan
Brett. Then challenge the children to look around the room to
find the mitten that you've hidden in the classroom. Then
discuss why the mitten was hard to find and camouflage and animals.
Art &
Literature Connection:
Have students decorate a white mitten so that it would be easier
to find in the snow.
Drama:
Print out the animal masks from the link below. Laminate and
add a string to each mask for the students to wear around their
neck. After many rereadings of The Mitten, let students
act out the book by getting into a large mitten shape that has been
taped on the floor. At the end with the mitten "explodes",
have all students jump out of the mitten and scatter.
Students can
also act out the story by climbing under a white sheet on the floor
as a mitten. I wouldn't suggest doing this with your beautiful
animal masks on though as they are apt to get torn apart.
Retelling:
Students can practice retelling The Mitten by placing animal
picture cards into a real or paper mitten. Jan Brett has a
mitten pattern and animal pictures that can be used for this.
The link is below.
Class
Retelling Prop: You can create a prop for your class by
creating a large white felt mitten. Cut two and glue or lace
the sides together leaving the top open. Cotton could be added
around the top edge if you chose for a furry look. Students
would then place laminated animal picture cards into the mitten in
the correct sequence.
Class Book:
Have the class work together to rewrite the story of The Mitten.
They can change the grandmother and boy characters and have other
kinds of animals crawl into the mitten. Type the newly written
story and add appropriate clipart illustrations or have students
illustrate each page. Laminate, bind, and place in your class
library.
Sorting
Animal Characters: Print out the animal picture cards at the
link below for Jan Brett's Matching Animal Game. Since this
game has animals from more than one of Jan's books, have them sort
the animals from The Mitten onto a large white construction
paper mitten that has been laminated. The animals not in
The Mitten could be placed onto something else like an open
book.
Opposites:
Use the story of The Mitten to discuss/reinforce opposites.
young/old
(boy/grandmother)
empty/full (the
mitten)
cold/hot
(snow/fire)
small/big
(mouse/bear)
inside/outside
(the house or the mitten)
in/out (in the
mitten/flying out of the mitten)
You can also
make picture cards for these and use them in the pocketchart for
matching.
Ordinals:
Program paper mittens with an ordinal 1st - 8th (I think).
Place vertically in pocketchart and have students sequence animals
according to their ordinal place in the mitten. After
students are proficient at this, remove the ordinal mittens and mix
them up. Call out an ordinal and appoint a student to
determine which animal is in that place. If they're correct,
allow them to place the mitten by the appropriate animal.
Take-Home
Project: Provide each student with a mitten shape on cardstock
or construction paper. Send it home with a note to their
family asking for help in decorating the mitten. Encourage
them to be creative. Display them on a bulletin board or in
the hallway.
Bulletin
Board Border: Provide students with colored Ellison mitten
cut-outs and craft supplies. Have them use the supplies to
decorate the mittens. Add white cotton balls to the top of
each mitten. Place them around the edge of a bulletin board
end-to-end.
The Mitten by
Alvin Tresselt: Have more advanced students read the following
sentence strips and put them in the correct order in the pocketchart.
The fox trotted
into the mitten.
A big bear
lumbered into the mitten.
Next, a green
frog hopped right in.
A big gray wolf
wanted in too.
A tiny mouse
spied the mitten and went in.
A little cricket
squeezed in too.
The mitten
stretched to let a boar in.
Everyone made
room for the rabbit.
The owl flew
down and joined them.
Who & How?:
Create a T-chart and program one side with WHO? and the other
side with HOW?. Have students tell WHO got in the mitten and
then HOW they got in (from the Alvin Tresselt version). Ex.
Who? |
How? |
mole |
burrowed
in |
Compare/Contrast: Use a Venn diagram to compare/contrast
The Mitten by Jan Brett and The Mitten by Alvin
Tresselt.
Patterns:
Use mitten cut-outs to reinforce patterning. Place the
patterns in your pocketchart and have students reproduce the pattern
below yours OR extend your pattern. OR you can give them a
card with a stated pattern (AB, ABC, or AABB, etc.) and have them
create the specified pattern using the mittens in the pocketchart.
Another twist on this would be for you to create the patterns in the
pocketchart using the mittens, then have the students match the
pattern cards to the correct pattern.
Mitten
Mobile: Cut a piece of construction paper in half vertically.
Form a cylinder with the strip of paper and staple. Punch 4 or
5 holes around the bottom rim. Have students choose 4 or 5
mitten cut-outs to decorate their mobile. Decorate mittens if
desired. Hole punch the top of each mitten and attach a piece
of yarn. Tie each piece of yarn in one of the holes on the rim
of the cylinder. When complete, punch two more holes at the
top of the cylinder. Add another piece of yarn to use in
hanging.
Mitten Glyph:
Provide each student with a mitten shape. Have them
decorate the mitten according to the glyph ...
Girl - color
thumb of mitten pink
Boy - color
thumb of mitten blue
Like cold
weather - color mitten purple
Don't like cold
weather - color mitten white
5 years old
- add 5 orange polka dots
6 years old -
add 6 green stripes
If you like
reading best - add cotton to the cuff
If you like math
best - add a snowflake to the mitten using white yarn (like the one
below in the picture)
OR you could
provide them with an Ellison snowflake cut-out to glue on.
Graphing
Mittens: Graph students mittens by color or provide mittens for
students to color. After they color their mittens, have them
graph them by color by taping them onto a large graph to form a
pictograph. If appropriate, have them transfer the information
onto individual bar graphs.
Sorting
Mittens: Younger students may enjoy sorting pairs of
mittens. You can ask parents to send in old mittens that no
longer fit or are no longer used. I picked up some baby
mittens a few years back at Wal-Mart on clearance. So keep an
eye open for these, especially after the winter buying season is
over. Throw all the mittens into a basket and have students
sort them into pairs. If you have the room you can add a low
clothesline to your classroom and let them hang the pairs side by
side on the clothesline.
This is also a
good activity for reinforcing pairs, which is something that my
first graders are working on in Saxon Math. Have them sort the
mittens in pairs and then draw a picture of their pairs, circling
each pair on their paper. Also have them record how many pairs
and how many mittens. A hard skill for mine!
Of course, all
this could be done with paper Ellison mitten cut-outs, but it just
won't be as much fun.
Matching:
Use Ellison mitten cut-outs for matching all kinds of skills.
They can be programmed with capital/lowercase letters, numbers/dots,
colors/color words, numbers/number words, compound words,
contractions, rhyming words, word families, etc. You can also
cut mittens from wallpaper samples for younger students to match.
ABC Order:
If you're working on ABC order or even sequencing ABCS, program
mitten cut-outs with words/letters and let students sequence them on
a clothesline.
Pocketchart
Math: Place mittens in a pocketchart along with number
cards. Students count mittens and match to correct number
card.
Math Addition
Mat: Place two large mittens shapes on construction paper;
add a plus sign between them. Laminate. Students will
use these to practice adding using counters. One mitten will
hold the counters for one set and the other mitten will hold the
counters for the second set. To find out how many in all,
count all counters. You can use mini snowflake erasers for
counters or mini marshmallows as snowballs! PS ... make sure
you make mats for both horizontal and vertical addition problems.
Mixed Up
Mittens: For those of you who live in really cold climates
(and your students wear mittens to school daily) you can play Mixed
Up Mittens. Pile everyone's mittens in a basket in the middle
of the floor. Divide the class into two teams. Send one
person from each team to the basket to retrieve their mittens and
put them on. When they have both of their mittens on, them may
go back and tag the next person on their team to go to the basket.
First team with their mittens on wins!
Fine Motor:
Place playdough and a mitten cookie cutters into a center. If
using metal cookie cutters like the one I recently purchased, make
sure to wash it afterwards as the playdough may make it rust ...
especially homemade playdough that is made with salt.
Mitten
Cookies: I recently purchased a metal mitten cookie cutter
with this recipe (haven't tried it though).
Cream together 1
C. butter and 2/3 C sugar. Beat in one egg. Add 1t
vanilla and 2 1/2C flour. Mix all ingredients until well
blended. Chill dough 3 to 4 hours. Pre-heat oven to 350
degrees. Roll out dough and cut. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or
until barely colored. Frost and decorate!
Frosting: 3/4 C
confectioners sugar
1 T butter
1 T milk
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t lemon
juice
Melt butter.
Combine all ingredients. Beat until smooth. Frost
cookies when cool. Makes 1/3 C.
Another Class
Book: Have each student complete the following sentence
frame and illustrate their page. Bind all pages into a class
book.
My mitten is so
big a ____ could fit inside.
Estimation:
Have students estimate how many animal counters can fit into a
mitten. Record their responses and then discuss.
Measuring:
Measure how long a mitten is using different non-standard
measurements and record the answers on a response sheet.
___ unifix cubes
long
___ paperclips
long
___ snowflakes
long (mini counters)
___ pencils long
Use mittens to
measure the length of a table, desk, etc. Record answers on
response sheet.
Handprint
Mittens: Have students create their own mittens using
their hands. Have them loosely trace around each hand onto
construction paper without going between each finger. Cut out
and decorate. If studying standard measurement, have them cut
an 8 inch piece of yarn to hang between the two mittens for
displaying.
Counting by
5s: Help students understand counting by 5s by displaying
mittens counting by 5s (five fingers in each mitten). 1st
mitten labeled with 5, 2nd mitten labeled with 10, 3rd mitten
labeled with 15, etc.
Art Project:
Give each student a mitten shape on construction paper. Have
them choose colors for their mitten then tear up pieces of
appropriate colored construction paper and glue onto their mitten.
Leave room at the cuff of the mitten to add white construction paper
or white cotton for fur. When dry, add colored polka dots made
using whole punch or a white Ellison die-cut snowflake. Cut
out mitten and display on bulletin board, clothesline or hang from
ceiling.
Fingerpainting: Have students fingerpaint onto a large
sheet of paper. When dry, fold paper in half. Cut out a
mitten shape. Glue, staple, or lace edges together and stuff
with tissue paper.
Mitten
Wreath: Cut the center from a white paper plate. Cut
out lots of different colors of mittens using the Ellison machine.
Glue mittens onto the "wreath" (white paper plate) overlapping them
to cover up all white of the plate. Hotglue a white raffia bow
on the bottom.
TLC style
Mitten: I change the
TLC
projects to use with my students. I don't have the time to
spend having them snip corners etc. to make the shapes they need.
And that's not to say that the TLC projects aren't worthwhile like
they are ... many teachers positively RAVE about them, but for me
and mine, I don't have that kind of time. Soooo, I give my
students the pattern pieces, they cut them out and assemble. I
usually do it with them before hand, then they have a model to use
when creating their own. Then they're left on their own to
work while I continue on with other lessons.
The students cut
out the main mitten part and then the thumb. They glue the
thumb piece underneath the main part, then crisscross 4 white strips
to form the snowflake. Hole reinforcers are added to the end
of each strip and white cotton is glued to the top. The mitten
is the size of a sheet of construction paper.
The Mitten
Piggyback Song: This song was written and shared with me by
Cheryle of Barrie, Ontario. Thanks for sharing your cute song,
Cheryle! :)
(tune: Miss
Molly had a Dolly)
Baba knit the mittens that were white, white, white
Niki lost his mitten out of sight, sight, sight
The mole crawled in, and the rabbit too
The hedgehog came and the mitten grew
A badger entered, and the red fox, too
The bear sniffed the mitten and it grew, grew, grew
Last to come was the little mouse
He crawled in to the mitten house
His whiskers tickled the nose of the bear
The sneeze blew the animals into the air
Niki saw his mitten fly up in the sky
And caught it in his hand as it flew by
Baba knit the mittens that were white white white
Niki lost his mitten out of sight, sight, sight
Creatures crawled in and it was tight, tight, tight
Now one is giant and the other just right.
~ Cheryle Stevenson
Counting:
Make mitten math mats and program each mitten with a number 0-10, or
0-20. Have students count snowballs (white pompoms or cotton
balls) into the palm of each mitten to match the number on the mat.
Other Resources:
The Mitten - The
Mailbox K-1 Dec/Jan 2006
Literature Notes
for The Mitten FS-2778
Teacher's Helper
- Kindergarten Nov/Dec/Jan 1995-96
The Best of The
Mailbox - Preschool/Kindergarten TEC1461
Math &
Literature - Creative Teaching Press
Literature Based
Math IF8524
Teacher's Helper
- Kindergarten Nov/Dec/Jan 1999 - 2000
Teacher's Helper
- Kindergarten Dec/Jan 2001 - 2002
The Best of
Teacher's Helper Literature - Kindergarten TEC1471
Penguins and
Mittens - Lasting Lessons

Make Room For
Me! emergent reader
http://www.teachersbookbag.com/winter.html
Our Mitten Tree:
Animal Riddles
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/mittens/index.html
The Mitten
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/the_mitten.html
The Mitten
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/grant/mitten/index.htm
Animal Masks for
The Mitten
http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_masks_main.htm
Jan Brett's
Matching Animal Game
http://www.janbrett.com/games/matching_animals_game_main.htm
Put the Animals
in the Mitten
http://www.janbrett.com/put_the_animals_in_the_mitten.htm
Mitten Crafts
http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/thispartictopic.cfm?BookTopic=326
Match the
Mittens
http://billybear4kids.com/holidays/christmas/active4.htm
Mittens coloring
page
http://coloringbookfun.com/winter/images/MITTENS.gif
My Mittens
Project
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/december/decfourteen.html
Center Ideas for
The Mitten by Jan Brett
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/3369/Winterpage.jpg
The Mitten: A
Ukrainian Folktale
http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/mitten.html
Mitten Lesson
Plans
http://teachers.net/cgibin/search.pl?index=index26.swishe&metaName=Keywords&yes=details&0=start&query=mitten
SCORE: The
Mitten - Teacher Guide
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mit/mittg.html
Author/Illustrator Study - Grade 2/3
http://www.stellar.nf.ca/1997-1998/district8/lrashe2.html
Activity Page 21
(the story of The Mitten along with printables for retelling)
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag21.html
Activity Page 22
- Hands in the Mitten
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/actpag22.html
#456 The Mitten
by Jan Brett (preschool)
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/456.html
The Mitten
Curriculum Web
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/694.html
The Mitten
Lesson: Where Do Bears Live?
http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ylp/Units/Mini_Units/94-95/Heyen.Bears/bears.3b.html
The Mitten:
Level 2
http://www.eduplace.com/tview/tviews/m/mitten.html
Mitten Math Game
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1767.html
The Mitten (this
is a "foreign" site, but if you scroll down you'll see poems/songs,
etc. in English)
http://www.englishbox.de/mitten.html
The Mitten 1st
Grade Unit Plan
http://lovetoteach.homestead.com/TheMitten.html
Books to Grow On
http://www.kcls.org/webkids/btgo/thememittens.cfm
Let It Snow!
http://www.sabine.k12.la.us/zes/snow/default.htm
Mitten
http://collaboratory.acns.nwu.edu/ties/mitten/Mitten.html
The Mitten
http://www.nashville.k12.tn.us/tsd/The%20mitten/The_Mitten.html
Piggybacks for
Teachers
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/piggybacks_the_mitten_teachers_guide.htm
Mrs. Jones - The
Mitten
http://www.mrsjones.org/books/mitten.html
Mitten Theme
http://www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/education/theme/mitten.html
The Mitten
http://www.myschoolonline.com/page/0,1871,2123-126557-2-44161,00.html
The Mitten
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/pep/teachingideas/mitten.html
2nd Grade
Treasure Trove/Winter Wonders
http://www.occdsb.on.ca/~proj1615/gradetwo/winterwonders.htm
Literacy Lesson:
The Mitten - Kindergarten
http://www.franklincoll.edu/pwp/sbates/LessonPlans/Lesson.TheMitten.pdf
The Mitten -
Classroom Ideas and More
http://www.teachingheart.net/mitten.html
Can Teach: Songs
& Poems - Mittens
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems33.html
One Mitten
http://www.kristinegeorge.com/one_mitten.html
The Mitten story
prop printables
http://kizclub.com/storypatterns/mitten(C).pdf
http://kizclub.com/storypatterns/mitten.pdf
The Mitten
http://www.picadome.fcps.net/lab/currl/language_arts/reading/mitten.htm
Mrs. Jones - The
Mitten
http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/books/mitten.html
The Mitten
Internet Links K-3
http://www.k-3learningpages.net/web%20mitten.htm
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updated 12.27.08
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