Frederick: A Kindergarten Project

The idea for this project came from the book Frederick by Leo Lionni.  He's one of my favorite children's authors.  And although I am no longer able to work with the kindergarten classes due to a change in their schedule, I stay in contact with them and help them with projects as much as I'm able.  But I do have some "unpublished" kindergarten work that I will try to share over time.   This is a project I did with kindergarten in 2010.  It would have been posted sooner but I have pictures all over the place.  Just like my messy room, my computer is a mess too!  But I think I have it organized finally.  (crosses fingers)

I taught kindergarten for 8 years and this project was one of my favorites.  

Here's my basic approach:
*We used scissors, glue, paper punches, crayons, and of course, colored construction paper.
*Cut the construction paper (ahead of time) to the proper size (squares and rectangles).  **For example, I cut the mouse bodies approximately 2x3**  --( I cut all pieces to size except for the legs and tails.  Kids are on their own there.)
*Demonstrate how a square/rectangle can be made to look round simply by snipping off the corners.
(**I also demonstrate how to round off the corners but explain that if they have difficulty with doing that, just snip off the tips**)
*Add a light color to the background paper using the  long-side of a crayon.  As you will see in the gallery, we tried dark and it's not as nice looking.
*Add color to the rocks (for texture) using the long-side of a crayon.  Using several colors gives a nice effect.
*Display  ;) 

BTW, I used as a model for the picture one of the pages of Lionni's book.  Frederick is "sharing" the things he's stored up for the winter. 

Here's a gallery of work.