Grinch Day

We had a fun day today!! I told the kids that we'd be having a Grinch day and they could wear green if they wanted. I started the day out by reading the story, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Then we talked about how the Grinch changed in the story and the development of that character in the book. The kids made text to self connections with the book. We talked about what makes them grumpy and what makes them happy. They discussed the things that make the Grinch feel these two feelings.

We then moved into writing and brainstormed a list of words to describe the Grinch. I was so proud of all the words they came up with! I taught them about similies (describing something using the words like or as) and they wrote similies to describe the Grinch.

Student Samples:

"The Grinch is as smelly as an onion outside on a hot summer day."

"The Grinch is as smelly as rotten fruit."

"The Grinch is as hairy as a wooly mammoth."

"The Grinch is as green as the grass."

Then I gave them a writing prompt: "To make the Grinch grin I would..." and they finished the prompt. I was surprised at how many different ideas they came up with. We then made Grinch heads out of paper and they wrote their ideas inside the Grinch's smile. They turned out really cute.

We choral read a poem about the Grinch, practicing a variety of expressions that we could use. This helps develop their fluency skills.

After lunch we did some "Grinch math" where they solved some problems that were all about the Grinch! They thought this was fun and it was a NICE break from doing long division (which we've been working on for a couple weeks now).

We finished up our Grinch day by watching the animated movie and then talking about the similarities and differences between the book and the movie. Overall it was a really fun day with learning involved!!