Have you ever felt just plain bad? Maybe you or a loved one were sick or maybe you lost a pet, for whatever reason, you were down in the dumps. Do you remember what made you feel better? Maybe it was someone instead of something. The book Cheer Up, Mouse! by Jed Henry is a wonderful little picture book that depicts a mouse who, for some reason, is down in the dumps. It doesn't take long for mouse's friends to realize something is wrong. Many of mouse's friends, including the crow, frog, squirrel, and hedge hog try everything they can think of to cheer mouse up, but nothing works. The last few pages of the book have no words, only pictures. These pictures show mouse's friend, chipmunk, climbing down from his tree and simply giving mouse a big hug.
This is a wonderful fiction book, full of beautiful illustrations, that helps teach young children the value of friendship. This is also a wonderful teaching tool. One strategy I would use with this book is to have the students act out the scenes in the book. I would have them create masks during art that depict the various characters. Once the masks were complete, the students could act out each character's part in the story. This strategy would help me gauge the mastery the students have of the story. It would also help the students relate the story to events happening in their own lives. Check this book out sometime and use it with your students. You will all be blessed by this story.
This sounds like a great book to share with children! I really like the strategy you chose to use with this book. I think it would really help reach kinesthetic learners. I also think the children will really enjoy the activity as well because it will let them explore their creativity and make them think critically about the story. Thank you for sharing this book with us!
ReplyDeleteChildren get their feelings hurt very easily and this is something we will have to deal with as future teachers. This is a great book to help teach children that we can cheer others up! Making the masks sounds like a great strategy. Students who are very artistic would soar with this, both in designing the mask and acting out the story. I will remember this for my future classroom!
ReplyDeleteI would love to use this book in my in my future classroom. I know we will see children come in and out of our classrooms and some will be happy and some may even be sad! This book would be a great tool to use in your classroom to show your students how to cheer someone up if they are having a bad day or tough time! I love the idea of incorporating art and having the students act out the story. This really makes it relevant for them because they can put themselves in the characters shoes! Thank you for sharing this book!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a wonderful addition to my classroom library. Having upset children will be something we have to overcome on a daily basis, and this story seems like a great way to show them that it will be ok. Acting out the story as a strategy is a wonderful idea as well, this would give children more relevancy in how to deal with real life situations they may be faced with one day and gives them a look into how the different characters should and/or coudl react to one another. Thank you for sharing.
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