If You Take a Mouse to School Lesson Plan
Use the Elementary Classroom Schedule to Teach Kids How to Write
Sep 26, 2009
Elementary aged kids thrive in a structured environment with predictable routines. Teachers can create a daily or weekly classroom schedule to promote a feeling of confidence and security in their students. Kids feel comfortable knowing what to expect next during the school day and are able to smoothly transition from one activity to the next.
In the story If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff [HarperCollins, 2002] a little boy finds out what happens when you bring an energetic little mouse to school. Numeroff takes the readers through the schedule of a typical school day as she details the mouse’s adventures. Teachers can use this story to help reinforce the students’ daily classroom routine.
If You Take a Mouse to School Lesson Objective
Students will use their class’ daily schedule to create a picture book outlining what the mouse would be doing during the day if he came to their classroom.
If You Take a Mouse to School Lesson Plan
The teacher reads the title of the book If You Take a Mouse to School to the students. She asks them to predict what they think will happen in the story if someone brings a mouse to school. The teacher records the students’ predictions on chart paper.
The class reads the story and checks their predictions. The teacher prompts the students to review the events of the story. The class creates an outline of the things that the mouse did before, during, and after school.
Teach Elementary Kids the Classroom Routines
The teacher talks to the students about what they did before coming to school that morning. The class then discusses what types of things they have done so far that day at school. The teacher refers to the classroom schedule posted in the room and asks the students what they will be doing for the rest of the day.
The class discusses how these activities are called a daily schedule or routine. The teacher asks the kids why having a daily schedule is important. The students discuss how it makes the day easier when everyone is on the same page and knows what to expect.
The teacher tells the class to think about what would happen if when they woke up tomorrow morning there was a little mouse that wanted to go to school with them. She instructs the kids to make a list of all the activities that they would do with the mouse before, during and after school.
To demonstrate understanding of the importance of a schedule, the students use their list to create their own version of If You Take a Mouse to School. During Writer’s Workshop time the kids follow the writing process to write, revise, and illustrate their story of what would happen if they took a mouse to school.
After reading If You Take a Mouse to School, elementary students can learn about their classroom’s daily schedule and follow the writing process to create their own version of the story. For more writing lesson ideas teachers can read First Grade Bear Writing Project Lesson Plans and Fall Leaf, Apple, and Pumpkin Writing Prompts.
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