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Mice Are Nice
 Books:
 Poems & Songs:
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Mice Are Nice
[tune: "The Farmer in the Dell"]
We think mice are nice. Oh, we think mice are nice!
Mice have noses that twitch and sniff.
We think mice are nice!
Other verses:
feet that hurry and scurry
whiskers that wiggle and jiggle |
Kitchen Mice
Five little mice hid behind the kitchen door.
The first one said, "Let's run across the floor!"
The second one said, "We can hide beside the chairs."
The third one said, "But the family's sitting there."
The fourth mouse called, "Hurry! Hurry! Follow me!"
The fifth mouse fell and bumped his knee.
Five little mice scampered across the kitchen floor
And ate all the breakfast crumbs 'til there were no more. |
Mice
by Rose Fyleman
I think mice
Are rather nice.
Their tails are long,
Their faces small,
They haven't any chins at all.
Their ears are pink,
Their teeth are white,
They run about the house at night.
They nibble things
They shouldn't touch
And no one seems to like them much.
But I think mice are nice. |
Reading & Writing:
 A Flower Shower worksheet. Practice the beginning sounds of V, Y, W, Z.
Mouse Mischief worksheet. Practice beginning sounds Q, S, R, T.
Help Mother Mouse name her babies. (rhyming words) I created a little homework worksheet with some mouse graphics on it. Directions: Mother Mouse just had 6 babies! She needs your help to name them. The only trick to naming the new babies is that their names must rhyme. Please name the babies and then draw a picture showing what you think the babies look like. Nonsense names are definitely allowed. Have fun!
Make "M Mice." See Addie Gaines: Mice Are Nice Unit
Program mice cutouts with the Days of the Week and Months of the Year. Have children put the mice cards in order. (Use in conjunction with "Reading the Room" at Reading Center.)
After reading Noisy Nora, by Rosemary Wells, write letters to Nora giving her advice on what she could do to get her mom and dad's attention instead of being so noisy! Compile these letters to make a class book. (Addie Gaines' class put their letters in a class book that is made from envelopes that are bound together.)
Re-tell the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Prepare 2 sentence strips with:
Strip 1: If you give a mouse___________________.
Strip 2: he might ask you for _________________.
Make and label picture cards of the items the mouse wanted (a cookie, a glass of milk, a straw, a napkin, nail scissors, a broom, a mop, a blanket and pillow, paper and crayons, a pen, and Scotch tape.) Ask your students to find two cards that belong together in the sentence.
A Mouse in My House. For homework, send this simple story frame for children to complete.
If a mouse came to my house, he could sleep in ___________.
I would name him __________________.
He could play with _________________.
If he got hungry, I might feed him some _______________.
I sure hope he doesn't want any chocolate chip cookies!
Here's a picture showing what the mouse and I might do.
Strawberry Patch Match. Duplicate strawberry pattern cards on red construction paper. Program one set of strawberry cards with an initial consonant or vowel. Program the other set of strawberry cards with a clipart picture beginning with that letter. Add this strawberry patch beginning sounds game to the Reading Center.
In a Mouse House worksheet. Beginning sounds and color words. [Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/March 1996].
A Mouse's Tale. Story recall worksheet. What did the mouse do with the strawberry. Color the pictures that show what mouse did in the story, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear.
Response Story Starter for Lunch, by Denise Fleming. (Cute reproducible for this in Teacher's Helper, Feb/March 1998)
What's For Lunch? worksheet. After reading the story, Lunch, students can use this reproducible to sequence the fruits and vegetables that mouse ate for lunch. [Teacher's Helper, Feb/March 1998]
Busy, Busy Mouse worksheet. After reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, children can complete this worksheet. They will use picture clues to answer questions from the story. [Teacher's Helper, Feb/March 1997]
A Little Cheese, Please! worksheet. {beginning sounds and color words}[Teacher's Helper, Feb/March 1997]
Norman the Artist worksheet. Students will recall and sequence the events from the story, Norman The Doorman. Also good for ordinal directions. (first, second, third, fourth) [Teacher's Helper, K, Nov/Dec/Jan 1993-94]
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Math:
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Feed the Mouse Game. Cut 20 simple mouse shape out of gray construction paper. Use a permanent marker to number the mice from 1-20. Cut small cheese-wedge shapes out of yellow construction paper. Place the mouse shapes in the math Center. Have students identify the numerals on the mice and give each mouse the matching number of cheese wedges.
Swiss Cheese, Please. Center game. Use yellow paper and punch holes in it (each cheese piece with a different number of holes from 11-20) usinga paper hole punch. Program mouse cutouts with the numerals 11-20. Match the correct mouse with his own corresponding piece of cheese.
Mouse Storyboards. Practice beginning addition and subtractions using mouse counters and storyboards with cheese shapes, houses, strawberries, cats, etc. on them.
Graph: Do you like strawberries?
Mouse Survey Make a survey for the children to take home as homework. Have the children ask 5 people if they like mice and return the homework to school. Have each child color a graph to represent the results of their survey. Then make a class graph to show the class results of the survey. Arrange the symbols for the class graph in 5's or 10's for ease in counting. (Idea from: Mstocke112@aol.com)
The Mouse Ran Up The Clock center game. Match times on grandfather clocks with times written on mouse cutouts.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Standoff. Bring in 2 popular types of chocolate chip cookies. Have students predict which one they like best just by looking at the bag. Make a prediction graph by cutting a cookie cutout with child's name under the kind of cookie they believe they will choose as favorite. Next, have each child close his/her eyes and taste Cookie A and then Cookie B. After they taste the cookies with eyes closed, have them choose their favorite one. Place a new cookie on the "Real Favorite" graph. Compare the results.
Stamp Sets worksheet. Color the set that shows less. (Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/Mar 1996)
More Mail! worksheet. Color the set that shows more. (Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/March 1996)
Big and Little worksheet. (Norman The Doorman) Classify items from the story as little items or big items. [Teacher's Helper, Nov/Dec/Jan 93-94]
Mouse Mail Match worksheet. Matching sets to 12. [ Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/Mar 1996]
Miss Mouse's Mail worksheet. Number words six to ten. (There is another worksheet for numerals one to five.) [Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/March 1996]
Mice Skating worksheet. (sequencing numbers 1-10) Put the numbers on the hockey pucks in order from 1-10. [ Teacher's Helper, K, Feb/Mar 1996]
Starting Lineup worksheet. (sequencing numbers 1-10) Put the numerals in order to line up the hockey team members. [ Teacher's Helper, Nov/Dec/Jan 93-94]
Who Ate The Cheese? Mini-booklet. Add to a math center for independent numeral sequencing and art fun. [The Mailbox, Preschool, Dec/Jan 2000-2001]
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Science:
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Rodent Family. Rdoents such as the rat, gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, and beaver are mammals that have large incisors used for gnawing. After listing the rodents, find accurate pictures of each and then compare their likenesses. Do they all have fur? Do they have large incisors? Do they have 4 legs?
Experiment with color-mixing and fingerpaints after reading Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.
Do a 5 Senses LEA after examining strawberries.
Not all mice look the same. Some are brown. Some are gray. Some are black. And some are white with red eyes! Show the class reference book pictures of mice and discuss the similarities and differences. Follow up this reference activity by making styrofoam mice. (see art activities)
Taste different kinds of cheese.
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Social Studies:
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Read Chato's Kitchen by Gary Soto. To explore the vocabulary from the book, children will love this tasty treat! Make quesadillas with salsa and tortilla chips. I found a wonderful quesedilla maker (makes 6) at Target for $19.99. It was great for use in the classroom.
Is It Real? (worksheet) After reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, discuss items in the story that are real and things that are make-believe. [Teacher's Helper, Feb/March 1997]
After reading, Norman The Doorman by Don Freeman, children can complete the worksheet Real and Pretend. [Teacher's Helper, Nov/Dec/Jan 1993-94]
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Arts & Crafts:
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Sponge-Printed Mice. Sponge-paint a whole piece of construction paper using (gray, brown, black, tan paint) to represent the mouse fur. Cut out a mouse body using a mouse-body template. Add construction paper paw, ears, eyes, nose, and whiskers.
Thumbprint Mouse. Dip thumb in inkpad and add tiny gray yarn tail and draw tiny ears.
Mouse Puppets. After reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, make cute mouse puppets. To make one, cut a circle from the center of a paper plate. Color the circle to resemble a mouse face. Glue on string or toothpick whiskers; then add construction-paper ears. Attach a craft stick to the back of the mouse. (Linda Holt, Uniontown, OH)
Tear Drop Mouse. Cut a large brown oval tear drop shape. Cut 2 medium pink construction paper circles for mouse ears. Add black construction paper whiskers. Add 2 small wiggle eyes to the mouse face. Glue onto another sheet of paper.
Colored Mice. AS a follow-up to reading Mouse Paint, make colored mice. Mix up a batch of "Mouse Dough." Give each child a portion of the dough; then ask her to shape the dough into a mouse. While the dough is still moist, have the child poke in construction-paper ears and a pipe-cleaner tail. Set the mice aside to dry. On the second drying day (when the ears and tail are secure), have each child dip her mouse into red, yellow, or blue water-thinned tempera paint. All to dry up to 2 full days.
Mouse Dough. 1 cup of cornstarch, 1 cup flour, up to 1 cup flour. Pour cornstarch and flour into a bowl. Slowly mix in water until a stiff dough forms.
Styrofoam Mice. Provide each child with half of a styrofoam egg. Have her paint the egg with gray, brown, black, or white paint. When the paint is dry, help the child stick a pipe cleaner tail into the wide end f the mouse. Then have her glue on a pom-pom nose, a pair of colored wiggle eyes, and a pair of construction paper ears.
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Snacks
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A Cookie Mouse!
You will need: 1 large round cookie, 2 vanilla wafers, cream cheese, 3 big chocolate chips, and shredded coconut.
1. Spread the cream cheese on the cookies. Arrange the vanilla wafers at the top of the large cookie to represent mouse ears.
2. Place the chocolate chips on large cookie, making eyes and a nose for the mouse face.
3. Add shredded coconut for mouse whiskers.
After reading The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear, make individual strawberry shortcakes. If ingredients do not come in, you can eat Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcakes instead.
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Just For Fun!
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Nibble, Nibble, Nibble Send your kids home with these mousy bags filled with a cheesy afternoon snack.
Patterns for the nose, whiskers, eyes, and ears can be found in Monthly Reproducible Activity Book - December - Kindergarten **
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