We read this sweet book by Kevin Henkes at the beginning of every school year, but these Chrysanthemum activities work well beyond the first day of school.
If the story is new to you, it’s about a little girl (mouse) with an unusually long name… Chrysanthemum. It doesn’t bother her one bit though. She loves her name and thinks it’s absolutely perfect. That is, until the first day of school.
When her teacher takes attendance, most of the students’ names are incredibly short, like Max, Eve, and Jo. But when Chrysanthemum’s name is called, everyone giggles.
“It’s so long,” said Jo.
“It scarcely fits on your name tag,” said Rita.
“I’m named after my grandmother,” said Victoria. “You’re named after a flower!”
Chrysanthemum, of course, is caught off guard by this. She no longer thinks her name is absolutely perfect. In fact, she thinks it’s dreadful. Cue the tears, right?
You’ll be happy to know though, the story ends well, but it takes a second to get there. And for most of the story, you and your students will feel pretty grouchy about mean girls Victoria, Rita, and Jo.
BACK TO SCHOOL ACTIVITIES FOR CHRYSANTHEMUM
Most Chrysanthemum activities are designed for the first week back to school. That makes sense… the story does take place on the first day. And because it centers around the length of Chrysanthemum’s name, other name activities are a natural way to extend the experience with the story.
This extension activity👆 combines math and literacy work as children collect and graph data to show how many letters each student has in their name. It’s a fun way to begin learning more about the kids in the class while sneaking in a few math skills.
Analyzing the data at the end of the lesson is something they really enjoy. I’ve always been surprised by that for some reason, but I think they like it because it feels like solving a puzzle. They spend time collecting all the data… analyzing it feels like the “why.”
If that activity looks too complicated for the first day of school, try this one.👇 The graphing activity above works well for the first day of second grade, especially if they’ve had a lot of experience with data during their first grade year.
If you’re a first grade teacher, The Name Game is simpler. In this activity, the children count the letters in each of their classmates’ names and then go about answering the questions on the companion page.
This is very doable with your guidance and they love finding out whose name is the longest, the shortest, and so on. It’s a fun first day activity!
There are a lot of these Chrysanthemum-inspired flower crafts online. We like this one because it continues the work with students’ names. The middle of each flower features a child’s name and the petals include words that describe the child.
I’ve included patterns for this flower in the resource, but they can be made just as easily without patterns and are just as cute… often cuter, honestly. That really just depends on your specific needs and schedule.
CHRYSANTHEMUM ACTIVITIES AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Kevin Henkes is one of those authors whose children’s books are perfect for a variety of opportunities. He writes stories whose characters’ experiences are much like the ones our little ones are going through, so they’re great for holding their attention and working on big ideas.
Whether you’re working on building community, studying Kevin Henkes’ books, or plugging along with vocabulary and comprehension skills, Chrysanthemum works.
For our youngest learners, we love using picture cue cards to support their oral retellings of fiction. These little images go a long way toward helping them remember key events and details from the story.
When students are developmentally ready to respond in writing, we’re ready with graphic organizers and worksheets to help them organize and extend their thinking. Several of our Chrysanthemum activities focus on opportunities to understand cause and effect relationships, compare and contrast characters, and deepen our vocabulary stores.
We’ve always loved Making Words activities. Building words is a key component in our literacy block, but we got even more excited about it when we started making space on the sheets to weave in vocabulary and grammar work. And if you’re already familiar with books by Kevin Henkes, you know there are always a handful of unique words sprinkled throughout the pages. We never miss an opportunity to learn big-kid words!
And I cannot help but plan for some creative writing… it’s one of my favorite things to teach. The end of this story begs the question, “Do you think Chrysanthemum and Victoria might become friends? How would that happen?” Give your kids this template and find out what they think!
It’s so fun to see how they envision and develop their own story. Make sure you save time for them to share their finished books. You may even want to be intentional about choosing a few different versions to compare and contrast. It’s important for the kids to see how each writer interprets information in their own unique way.
CHRYSANTHEMUM ACTIVITIES THAT BUILD COMMUNITY
You can find the ideas and activities shown above in the CHRYSANTHEMUM SET in my shop. In addition to the printed resources though, these are some of our favorite ways to piggyback on the story. Some continue the celebration of names, but others are focused on helping us establish a healthy classroom community from the very beginning.
- Write Name Acrostic Poems: Creating acrostic poems are a simpler version of the flower craft. Use your own name as a model and then help each child create their own acrostic poem using their name. Each letter of their name represents a positive trait or something they’re proud of and want to share.
- Make Self Portraits: Invite children to draw self portraits using a variety of art supplies. Afterward, discuss the unique features of each child’s drawing, pointing out that every person is special and different.
- Create All About Me Collages: Similarly, give each child a blank piece of paper or small poster board. Encourage them to create an All About Me collage by gluing pictures, drawings, and words onto the paper that represent their interests, hobbies, and favorite things. This activity allows them to express their individuality in a visual way.
- Try Out a Compliment Circle: Begin each day (or week) with a compliment circle. Have each child say one thing they like about themselves and then give a compliment to a classmate. This activity helps children create a habit of acknowledging positive qualities in themselves and others.
- Build a Friendship Web: Create a visual representation of diversity and interconnectedness by creating a friendship web with yarn. Have each child hold on to a piece of yarn while sharing something unique about themselves. As children share, the yarn gets passed around, forming a web of connections and highlighting how everyone contributes to the classroom community.
As you’re getting for the new year, check out these other back to school posts!
Happy teaching!
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