how to draw pete the cat

Throughout the week we referenced the text Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons during reading workshop, math workshop, and our morning meeting. We used the pattern in the text to strengthen our reading of patterned books - especially when the pattern breaks! We used the text as an interactive read aloud when learning about writing number sentences for subtraction (take away) problems. Using real buttons as manipulatives, the children solved a subtraction problem in their math journals, figuring out how many buttons were left on a friend's shirt.

On Thursday we reread the loved book and I shared my numbered steps of How To Draw Pete the Cat. The children gathered on the edge of the oval rug and followed the steps. We talked about how following how to directions makes you a stronger how to writer. I used shapes in my drawing, offering continued reinforcement of math vocabulary and knowledge of two dimensional shapes. 

As part of our conversations, we discussed how this one book connected all of our learning!

During a museum walk share, AM exclaimed, "I noticed everyone gave this a try and all of the drawings look Pete-ish!"

The last step was for the children to put buttons on their Pete's shirt. On Monday, I will invite the artists and mathematicians to write a number sentence to match the number of buttons left on their Pete. 

Look for updates to this post later in the week!