Children practice a variety of early literacy skills with this free The Mitten printable book. You can grab your copy at the bottom of this post.
Jan Brett is one of my favorite children’s authors.
Of course, my students (and my son) like to point out that I have a ton of favorite authors.
Jan Brett is definitely on my top 10 list though!
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Related: Story Rock Activities for The Mitten
The Mitten Printable Early Reader
Jan Brett’s book The Mitten is a consistent hit with my students every year, and it’s a blast to retell the story.
I put together this The Mitten printable for young kids to work on a variety of early literacy skills.
How to assemble the emergent reader
First, print out the free printable (you can find it at the bottom of this post).
Then fold each page in half, with the printed sides out. Place the folded pages one on top of the other, with the front cover on top.
Be sure that the folded sides of the pages are on the right. Staple together along the left side of the mini book.
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All the pages are folded in half, ready to be assembled!
Related: Colorful Dinosaur Emergent Reader
Here’s a video to show you how to assemble my emergent readers:
Using The Mitten printable book with children
Read Jan Brett’s The Mitten with the kiddos.
Have fun talking about the amazing illustrations, predicting which animal will be next, and discussing if it’s fiction or nonfiction.
Delve into some other fun retelling ideas, like these story rocks, with the children, too.
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Related: Sign In Book with Printable Sign in Sheets
Once the children are well-versed in the story, introduce the emergent reader.
Explain that it’s their own version of The Mitten, starring all of the same animals!
Walk through the book, pointing out the different animals – say the animals’ names and help the children locate the matching word based on letter sounds. Talk about the different high frequency words in the book, and point out the book’s repetitive text.
Here are some ideas for using this printable book:
- Read the book to and with the kids, and let them read the books on their own.
- Bring out the story rocks and have the kids match the animals to those in the printable.
- Write the sentences on sentence strips, then place the strips in a pocket chart. Add the pictures of the animals, too, on separate pieces of paper. Kids can read the words with pointers, and then match the sentences to the animal pictures.
- Have the children color the animals in the black-and-white version.
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Related: Little Red Hen Activity Retelling
Learning concepts explored with the early reader
So many early literacy concepts can be explored using The Mitten printable book. Here are just a few:
- One-to-one correspondence (kids point to each word as they say the word)
- Punctuation
- The concept of a word (a word goes from space to space)
- Left-to-right directionality, along with top-to-bottom directionality
- Letter sounds
- Sight words
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The last page of the book, when the animals go flying from the mitten!
Related: Making Winter Words with Letter Tiles
Would your children enjoy this The Mitten printable book? Let me know if you end up using it at home or in the classroom!
More Learning Fun with “The Mitten”
A week’s worth of printable preschool lesson plans based on The Mitten. Includes ideas for literacy, math, science, etc., AND extra printables to support the hands-on learning activities. Two sets available, depending on whether you’re homeschooling preschool or teaching in a preschool classroom.
Find the plans at Preschool Teacher 101 | Home Preschool 101 | Teachers Pay Teachers
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This set includes hands-on learning activities, book suggestions, and the following printables:
- Character Patterning Cards
- Character Word Cards
- Letter Matching Puzzles
- Number Mitten Matching Sets
- Mitten Matching Math Sets (Numbers, Number Words, Dots)
- Animal Size Ordering and Sorting Sets
- Story Retelling Set
- Mitten Shape Matching Set
- Animals of The Mitten Science Journal
- The Mitten Retelling Emergent Reader
Get the plans at Preschool Teacher 101 | Home Preschool 101 | Teachers Pay Teachers
More Mitten-Themed Early Learning Activities
Mystery Mitten Letter Sound Game by Growing Book by Book
Mitten Letter Matching on a Clothesline by Mom Inspired Life
Mystery Mitten Tactile Counting Game for Preschool! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog
Pass the Mitten Storytelling Game by Capri + 3
Mitten Matching Activities for Preschool by Life Over C’s
3 Hands-On Mitten Activities for Preschoolers by Tiny Tots Adventures
Number Bonds 0-10 by Rainy Day Mum
The Mitten Experiment by Powerful Mothering
Mitten Sight Word Games by The Educators’ Spin On It
Get a Free The Mitten Printable Emergent Reader
The Mitten printable reader is available to members of Fun-A-Day’s free email community. If you’re already a member, click on the button below and enter your information to get the printable sent to your email inbox.
Not a member? No worries! Click on the button below and enter your information to join us. You’ll get the printable sent to your inbox as a welcome gift.
If you can’t see the button, click on the highlighted text below instead.
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Please note – many school districts have pop-up blockers enabled or very strict firewalls in place. If you’re on a school computer and can’t see the box that pops up asking for your email and name, this might be the case for your district. Using a non-school computer should solve that problem.
Originally published January 20, 2016.
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