Print the mitten and animal patterns from Jan Brett website. Copy the patterns and cut out, allowing two mittens and a menagerie of animals for each participating preschooler. Provide crayons for the children to color the cut-outs. Help children glue the mitten shapes together. Glue cotton balls along the mitten cuff for added texture. Read the story aloud while children stuff the animals inside their mittens.
Lead a discussion with the children on how a story is comprised of a beginning, middle and end. Give examples of the three components from popular folk tales and ask the children to city examples from their own reading experiences. Read Jan Brett's story to the children. Instruct students to divide a sheet of paper into three sections using rulers and pencils. Read the story again. Task students with making notes or drawing pictures, depending on each child's ability, to represent the beginning, middle and end of the story. Make clear that the first section of the paper is for the beginning and so on.
Encourage students' ability to associate with characters and analyze character development by following up story time with a character description activity. Ask students to think about their favorite and least favorite character and to articulate their thinking process. Ask children to draw a picture of that character that reflects their attitude towards the character. Encourage students with stronger writing skills to add words or phrases to describe their attitudes toward the characters.
Draw preschoolers further into the story experience by assigning each child the role of a featured animal. Task students with establishing a noise their animal makes. Read the story aloud, pausing after each animal is mentioned so that students can make their own animal noises.