Megan Sheakoski's Blog

Posted by Megan Sheakoski

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff [HarperCollins, 2000] is a popular children's book that greatly appeals to primary age kids. Teachers can use the circular story to teach a variety of elementary lesson plans to students during an If You Give a Mouse a Cookie unit plan. Use the lessons below to get you started.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Lesson: How to Teach Creative Writing Skills to Elementary Students explains how to use a story starter from the book as the basis for a writing lesson plan. Elementary kids use the writing process to write and publish their own "If You Give..." story.

Math and Science Lesson Plan: Teach Kids About Pie Graphs, Bar Graphs, Line Graphs, and Pictographs can be used to teach students about different types of math and science graphs. After reading the story students complete a cookie taste test and then practice graphing the results.

How to Teach Primary Math Patterns: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Math Lesson Plan for Elementary Kids can be used as part of an integrated unit. During this math lesson kids use cookie cut-outs to learn AB, AAB, ABB, and ABC math patterns.

How to Teach Cause and Effect to Elementary Kids: An If Then Lesson Plan Featuring If You Give a Mouse a Cookie explains how to teach the concepts of cause and effect to primary students. Kids learn what cause and effect mean and correctly complete if then statements.

Teachers can browse through the book on the HarperCollins website for more information on the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Posted by Megan Sheakoski

Laura Numeroff's popular holiday story If You Take a Mouse to the Movies [HarperCollins, 1998] follows a mouse and a little boy as they set off on a series of silly adventures beginning with a trip to the movies. Kids love the light-hearted story and teachers can use the book to teach reading, writing, and math lessons.

1. The Language Experience Approach Lesson Plan: Make Popcorn With Kids to Teach Them How to Read Their Writing helps students increase language arts skills by writing about the shared experience and making popcorn and using their story for reading and grammar lessons.
2. In How to Teach Elementary Kids Compound Words: A Reading Lesson Plan Featuring If You Take a Mouse to the Movies students play a popcorn themed compound word match game to practice identifying and using compound words.
3. During the Elementary Snowman Glyph Math Lesson Plan: Teach Kids How to Follow Directions to Create a Non-Standard Graph students answer questions to create a snowman glyph non-standard math graph that tells a story about the person who made it.
4. The If You Take a Mouse to the Movies Reading Lesson Plan: Increase Comprehension Skills by Teaching Kids How to Sequence helps students increase their understanding of text by learning how to order plot events.

Teachers who are unfamiliar with the children's book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff can browse through the story on the HarperCollins website.

Posted by Megan Sheakoski

Halloween is an exciting and motivating topic for elementary kids. Teachers can use the following Halloween themed lesson plan articles to create a fun elementary unit for their students.

1. Halloween Reading Lesson Plan and Activity: Use Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld to Teach Purpose and Main Idea
2. Halloween Creative Writing Lesson Plan: Teach Elementary Students How to Use the Writing Process
3. Halloween Snacks for a Primary School Party: How to Make Easy October Treat Recipes for Elementary Kids

Have fun learning and celebrating Halloween with your students!

Posted by Megan Sheakoski

Pumpkin themed lessons are fun for both teachers can students. Use this collection of pumpkin lesson plan articles to create an exciting October unit plan for kids.

1. Ten Little Pumpkins Poem and Math Lesson: Finger Play and Circle Time Activities for Kindergarten Kids
2. Pumpkin Snacks and Treats for Kids: Ideas and Recipes for a Fall Themed Elementary Classroom Party
3. Elementary Repeated Reading Lesson: Teach Primary Students to Increase Fluency and Comprehension
4. How Pumpkins Grow Lesson Plan: Teach Elementary Students About the Life Cycle of Fall Vegetables
5. Pumpkin Themed Science Lesson Plan: Teach Kindergarten Kids How a Pumpkin Grows
6. Teach Elementary Students About Rhyming Couplets: Pumpkin Poem Lesson Using The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin
7. Fall Leaf, Apple, and Pumpkin Writing Prompts: October Themed Primary Journal Topics, Story Starters, and Projects
8. Pumpkin Pie Math and Science Cooking Lesson: Teach Primary Students to Measure, Estimate, and Use Fractions

Posted by Megan Sheakoski

Fall is an exciting time of year for both teachers and students and the perfect time to plan pumpkin themed lesson plans. Ten Little Pumpkins is a counting poem can be taught to kids as a finger play during circle time or as the introduction to an addition and subtraction pumpkin math lesson.

Ten Little Pumpkins Poem and Finger Play

by Megan Sheakoski

Ten little pumpkins growing on a vine,

One was picked and then there were nine.

Nine little pumpkins looking really great,

One was picked and then there were eight.

Eight little pumpkins counting to eleven,

One was picked and then there were seven.

Seven little pumpkins rolling through the sticks,

One was picked and then there were six.

Six little pumpkins bigger than beehives,

One was picked and then there were five.

Five little pumpkins sitting on the floor,

One was picked and then there were four.

Four little pumpkins underneath a tree,

One was picked and then there were three.

Three little pumpkins wearing little shoes,

One was picked and then there were two.

Two little pumpkins having lots of fun,

One was picked and then there was one.

One little pumpkin sitting all alone,

One was picked and then there was none.

Have fun using the Ten Little Pumpkins counting poem with your students this fall!