If You Give Mouse a Cookie Fun

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie is such a fun story to read aloud and lends itself to so many teachable  moments.  Circle stories are so great for little firsties!!!  It opens the door to introduce prediction strategies in a simple way for the little guys. 

I want to share a fun way our school has used Laura Numeroff books to do this….we have also had a family literacy and math night with our firsties that centered around If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.  I want to share how we prepped for and spent the week leading up to it.  First off – a disclaimer — This is NOT my idea. :o)  I really don’t even know who to credit because it has been in our district for so long.  We actually make cookie costumes.  I mean who wouldn’t want a cookie costume?  And what kid doesn’t look absolutely adorable in one??!?

{ that is my daughter on the left – a leopard print mouse helper that night. :o)  She was this little one’s reading buddy } * from 2010*

Just use brown bulletin board paper and make 2 large circles.  Cut a sponge to look like a chocolate chip and have the kids put little chips all over the circles.  We gave them each a chocolate chip hat and attached the two circles with brown strips ( think size of sentence strips ).

We would make chocolate chip cookies too.  I called up each table to do a certain part of the recipe.  Our wonderful lunch lady would put them in our school oven and we were enjoying yummy, delicious cookies to end our unit. We would be sure to make several batches.  One for our class ( the teachers too – Hello! like I would miss out on that? ) and the families for the lit and math night.

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie literacy night

The evening is a lot of work/prep but the kids and parents love it so much!  They basically walk around to ‘stations’ and one of them was always: take a picture with the mouse.

We always start the night with a fun poem and song of course dressed up in their costumes.

Then the kids walk around to stations with their parents:

Estimation Station

Mouse Craftivity

Reading Corner

Photo Op

Make a Frame

This isn’t the one we used ( ours is at school ) but you get the idea:

 The families would come to this estimation station and make a guess.  We would have a little prize for the closest family guess.

How cute are these guys at the reading corner?  We made sure to have lots of Laura Numeroff books available for the kids to read with pillows to make them comfy.

I don’t have pics of the rest { Lame – I know } but the mouse craftivity was formed from a paper plate and we had them make frames.  We prepped square frames from our Ellison machine and let them decorate with brown hole punch circles for chocolate chips and sticky decorations from Michael’s and markers.  Then when we printed the family pics we would put them in the frames they made and slap a piece of magnetic tape to the back…viola they have an adorable keepsake.

Of course I created a unit that includes story response sheets and ideas to accompany this book….

Bundle option

This unit has tons of ideas and activities to help you make a fun week for your kiddos.  Click {here} for it.

If you are in charge of a family night at your school this year – why not try this fun one for your grade level?  Even if you don’t incorporate a family night – this pack is perfect for responding to the story or for a sub in a pinch!