Hameray Classroom Literacy Blog

Five Great Activities for Wishy-Washy Ice Cream—with FREE Download!

Today's guest blogger is Cindy Price, who is currently teaching first grade after 20 years in kindergarten. If you like what you see here, be sure to check back frequently for more posts, and take a look at her blog,   Mrs. Price's Kindergators !

I love Mrs. Wishy-Washy! I mean who doesn't!   I have read   Mrs. Wishy-Washy   and   Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm   for years in my classroom and the kids love them! When I discovered that there were some books about Mrs. Wishy-Washy that I had not yet heard of, I was excited. I have to tell you the one I used this week,   Wishy-Washy Ice Cream , I absolutely love! So do my kids!


Anything that has ice cream is amazing to me, so I couldn't wait to use this! Mrs. Wishy-Washy is a beloved character and combining her with ice cream provides us with so many things we can do in the classroom! Here are five activities my kids did!
  1. We began by reviewing the vocabulary.  We talked about what ‘clop’ and ‘flop’ and ‘plop’ meant. We also talked about how these words rhymed and began to make a list of other rhyming words. 
  1. We made inferences about the story.   They looked at the cover and told me what they thought would happen. Some thought it would be similar to the other Mrs. Wishy-Washy stories. The text was perfect for my small group. The kids loved it, and they loved the fact that they could read it themselves. The pictures were perfect, not overwhelming!
  1. We used our five senses and described ice cream.   We filled out this chart together. Their adjectives were both amazing and funny!  

 

  1. We created a mini-book about ice cream.   I had them fill out a graphic organizer, then take it and write their own book using the book template. This organizer is so helpful, and the kids are able to write a book successfully when they use it. They love it when they get to be the author!

 

 

  1. We did a small writing for morning work   the next day about ice cream. They made a giant paper ice cream to glue their writing to.

I also read an emergent reader that I wrote about Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Ice Cream, and we read that. My kids and I loved this book! There are so many more things you can do!

If I had had more time, we would have made homemade ice cream. We then would have written about the experience as well as write a how-to book. Then we would have graphed about whether or not we liked the ice cream we made ourselves better than the ice cream we get in the store.

 You can download the pages I used with my class at the bottom of the page! I've also added some Mrs. Wishy-Washy clipart to make Mrs. Wishy-Washy pointers for your kids to follow along with! All you have to do is copy, laminate, cut, and hot glue to a popsicle stick!

I cannot wait to share my ideas about the other Mrs. Wishy-Washy books I will be reading with my kids! Check back soon! 

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I am now a first-grade teacher, so that makes me a first-grade teacher for one year and a kindergarten teacher for twenty years. Every day is a new and exciting learning experience for both myself and my students. I believe that kindergarten should be a fun yet educational experience where the students are immersed in poetry, children's literature, music, kinesthetic and hands-on activities, as well as hugs and love!

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To download the activity packet, or an information sheet with key features about the   Joy Cowley Early Birds  series, which contains the book mentioned in this post, click the images below.