The Adventures of Mama & Papa Mouse

Background:
Two years ago, I wrote the following in my Grade 1 Ruzuku Course:

I've been thinking recently about how to get Z and K to become interested in writing stories for one another. We have several weeks off school coming up (Professional Development Break in Feb, Spring Break in Mar) and those would be great times to send home journals and have them write and illustrate the adventures of some character we come up with. When we get back to school, they can trade journals and read all about the character's adventures.

At first I was thinking about Petunia (we love the books by Roger Duvoisin) but writing "Petunia" over and over seems tiring. Also, I was about to spend $85 getting the rest of the books in the series -- so that I could explain to them about what a series is and how sometimes children love a character so much that the author writes lots of stories about his/her adventures -- when I thought, Renee, surely there are other characters that have a series about them that you already own!

And then I thought, I could be the storyteller and make up stories (that would be modeling... and free).

And I remembered that we have two little white stuffed mice. One was from a toy the girls had when they were little and the other we found last summer at a neighborhood toy giveaway. They are identical! I began to think about the adventures of Mama and Papa Mouse. Mice are easy to draw and MAMA and PAPA are both easy to write and easy to learn to read!

All of that led me to the idea of having a container story for the Four Seasons block. I set up Mama and Papa Mouse on the dining room buffet along with our little wooden house. Each day they can have an adventure which also introduces the activity that I want us to do for the season we are studying. At the midway point (our Feb break) and ending point (our Mar break), I can send home the Primary Journals and encourage them to continue the Summer and Winter adventures of Mama and Papa Mouse!

I'm excited about this idea and happy to share our stories and activities for each day!

Update:
Well, we have loved Mama & Papa Mouse so much. The Four Seasons block, a classic Waldorf grade 1 block, is delightful. It's fun to travel through all four seaons back to back. Sipping hot chocolate at the "wrong" time of year! Having a snowball fight with cotton balls. Making up a sensory bin and experimenting to figure out a household item to fill it with that would make the perfect sound of jumping in an autumn leaf pile (hint: it's onion skins).

I also realized that it levels up the writing requirement in grade 1 in a perfect way. During the Capital Letters block, they begin by writing just one letter and then advance to writing a word. Now that we are doing a MLB about the adventures of Mama & Papa Mouse, children can choose to write a phrase, or even a sentence if they want that additional challenge. No stress about spelling at this age. They dictate, I scribe, they copy the spelling. It allows them to just see the letters that go with the sounds in the words they've picked to write.

Here are all the adventures Mama & Papa Mouse have had so far. For each I tell a short story (less than one minute) and we have a follow up activity. Then the next day they do the MLB drawing and add the words they want.

If children have a lot they'd like to say, I will share the writing with them:

2022 Stories

SPRING

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Rosy Pink
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Feather
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Ice

SUMMER

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Ocean
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Shadows
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Butter

Mama Mouse churning butter

AUTUMN

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Acorns
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Mushrooms
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Leaves

Papa Mouse with his acorn cap hat

WINTER

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Winter Day
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Hot Cocoa
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Snowball Fight

2024 Stories

SPRING

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Easter Egg
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Persimmon Tree
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Baby Birds

our indoor baby persimmon tree, just waking up from its winter sleep

SUMMER

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Bees
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Sun Tea
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Shadows

AUTUMN

Mama and Papa Mouse and the Leaves
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Sunflower
Mama and Papa Mouse and the Mushrooms

WINTER

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