Beatrix Potter Before Spring Vacation

Tom Kitten is looking at me from the top of the bookshelf in my apartment.  He shares the shelf with Squirrel Nutkin and Jemima Puddle-Duck and a collection of old books.

Tom Kitten, in his little blue pants and matching ill-fitting jacket, reminds me of when I read Beatrix Potter books, to my first grade students.  All those lively characters, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle… 

Weeks before spring vacation (which always coincided with Easter, in the school district I taught in, I started reading books by Beatrix Potter.  The language and the pictures and call for imagination is so rich in her stories.  A few words we discussed what they mean could have been:

naughty    curious    elegant    sorts    unwisely    smears    difficulties   descended

The answers they came up with before we talked about the real meaning were hilarious.  Some were right on.

It was fun way to keep all of our attention from the melting snow, the muddy playground and the unpredictable weather.  As years passed I learned to integrate Potter’s stories with the other subjects and have the centers full of choices for the kids to work on.  The motivation was high and they had no idea they were using higher level thinking skills while they had fun. 

A Typical Author Sharing Time
(Student sits with me on the bench to share their work)

Once the calendar headed into the last week before vacation, the students brought in a bunny of their own.  They were instructed to leave it at school for a week.  

Some children borrowed stuffed bunnies from siblings. Others called up Grandma and asked for one.  And for backup, I always had a box of bunnies they could pick from, to use for the week.  (Bunnies borrowed from my children, Holden and Elizabeth). 

A few bunnies were put in backpacks and never returned. I smile to think they became attached to a character they created and couldn’t part with them. Not all the bunnies, I borrowed from Holden and Elizabeth, came back home with me.  I wonder if they knew?   

After making this a yearly project, word got around.  Some parents made sure they purchased the biggest, fluffiest or cutest bunny for their child to use for the week.  

One year, a student brought in a live, black and white rabbit, in a metal cage.  With my allergies I’m not sure what possessed me to allow the cute little thing in my classroom.  I made sure it didn’t have to come home with me during vacation! It was extremely popular.

I let the kids have their bunny by their side all week. Only in the classroom, though. I didn’t think the lunch-room crew would appreciate bunnies mixing with food in the cafeteria.  Or that the playground supervisors would understand bunnies on the slides, swings or used for a perfect football by the older kids, to tease the first graders.  

The students knew ahead if “Pink Ears” or “Hopper” became a distraction, during class, they’d have to put it on the ledge by the large windows. 

After writing descriptions of “Peter Rabbit” characters, discussing the settings, and listening to the stories, the students were ready to make their own book about their special bunny. 

I designed a booklet and made a copy for each student.  Some parts of the booklet directed the students to write descriptions of character. What they liked and disliked. Their favorite sport, where it lived, favorite color of jelly bean,etc.  The hardest task for most of them was naming the rabbit.  The rule was “No Copying”.  There could only be one “Rabbit”, “Jelly Bean” or “Fuzzy Tail”.  Some worked around this and Blue Rabbit, Big Fuzzy Tail, or Red Jelly Bean were created.

We all worked very hard.  Everyone worked at their own ability level with a lot of support. I spent a lot of time on my knees, next to a student’s desk, encouraging progress. They all required differing amounts of help and support.

Me:  What is your rabbit’s favorite color?

Student:  It’s not a real rabbit, it doesn’t have a favorite color.

Me: Can you imagine your rabbit is real?  Like characters in Beatrix Potter’s stories. 

Student: I don’t know.

Me:  You picked out the name Pokey, for your bunny.  Pretend with me now. What color does Pokey like?  What color do you like? 

Student: ——silence

Me: Why did you called him Pokey?

Eventually the creative spark overcame a student’s fear and I could move on to another student.

The students read their books to each other, to volunteers, even to their bunnies, in order to prepare to read it aloud, at the end of the week, to the class.  I also invited Mrs. Rabe and her Kindergarten students, to come from across the hall at the end of the week.  We’d pair each kindergarten student up with a first-grade partner, so they could read their finished book to them. (and temporarily share their bunny, which sometimes took a lot of encouragement )

It took years for me to master getting ready for awards at the end of the week.  Another tradition. It’s not easy thinking of thirty prizes for bunnies!  I wanted each prize to be special.  It was important they looked special, too.   I didn’t often purchase extra things for my classroom, if I could make them myself.  While the children were gone to lunch, I’d pin on the prizes.  Every bunny had one on when the kids returned.

Cutest, Fluffiest, Biggest, Smallest…Shyest, Loudest, Longest Whiskers, Bravest…Most Real Looking, Most Handsome…Most Loved, Fattest, Skinniest, Best Dressed, Funniest…Each bunny was unique.

Like my students. Unique in ways I never got tired of.  Combined with spring fever, Easter and a pending vacation?  I needed a hook to keep them on task. Believe me it wasn’t always the student with low reading and writing skills who needed corraling back to focus on school work.  

Thank you, Tom Kitten.  Thank you, Beatrix Potter.  

Thank you, my students.  No Easter Basket filled with anything could beat memories I cherish of sharing your learning with you. (or teaching you "Bunny Foo-Foo" )

Happy Easter Everyone. 

Yes, even you,Tom Kitten.