By Judy Purcell and Sue Parise, pre-k teachers

As winter has settled in, the pre-k has been reading many books written and illustrated by Jan Brett. Many of her stories are fairy tales that she has retold. The children have enjoyed listening to her stories and looking closely at the beautifully detailed illustrated pages. We have compared and contrasted stories. Where do they take place? Who are the characters? What do you notice about the borders?

The children have been having fun bringing some of these stories to life by retelling them and acting them out. After reading The Mitten, we used puppets to retell the story. During our music/drama class the children acted it out and climbed into a giant “mitten”. After reading The Three Snow Bears, we were inspired to build an igloo and learn more about the arctic and the animals that live in polar regions.