The Pigeon has to go to school, but to be honest, he’s not happy about it. In fact, he’s panicking. Loaded with what-if questions, he’s working hard to get out of going.
- “What if I don’t like school?”
- “Will finger paint stick to my feathers?”
- “Why does the alphabet have so many letters?”
- “What will the other birds think of me?”
- “What’s up with those heavy backpacks? I’m a fragile bird.”
Children’s author Mo Willems understands the quirkiness of kids, so by the end of the book not only is Pigeon excited about school, your students will be, too. Fingers crossed.
If you haven’t read the book (spoiler alert), it ends with Pigeon on a school bus. It’s a fun nod to one of Mo Willems’ other books, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, another fan favorite. Both books are fun read-aloud choices for the first day of school… I’d add them to your library check-out list. We think The Pigeon Has to Go to School is one of those books destined to become a first-day classic. It deserves a spot right up there with Jitter Juice and the ever-popular Chicka Chicka Boom Boom crafts.
FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES FOR THE BOOK
So you think you can’t draw? Most of your students think they can’t either, but I promise you can draw Pigeon. It’s a fun way to follow up the story and when your kids realize they can actually illustrate this funny little character, they’ll keep drawing him over and over.
You can even show the children how small changes in the location of his pupil change the overall look. Even tiny changes in the beak can make it look like Pigeon is yelling. Experiment and have fun with it!
Pigeon can be made with a few simple shapes. A circle here, a rectangle there, a triangle wing, and poof… Pigeon! In this BACK TO SCHOOL PIGEON PACK, I’ve included both the step-by-step directions for drawing him as well as the pattern pieces for building him.
IDEA: Fold 12 x 18 pieces of yellow construction paper in half to make simple folders for students. The children can decorate the front of their own folder with their Pigeon craft and the speech bubble. (See the top photo.) These little folders are a great place to keep all the work students do related to the book.
IDEA #2: In the book, The Pigeon Has to Go to School, Pigeon has quite a few back to school fears many children can relate to. This activity (shown above) is another way to use the craft and is also included in the Pigeon Pack. The speech bubble provides a prompted space for students to share one of their own worries, giving you an opportunity to learn more about each child and reassure them in the process. If you have the space for it, the finished collection looks great displayed on a bulletin board or classroom wall.
PIGEON PRINTABLES
For a little added skill oomph, I plan for one or two printed activities to follow up our reading. It’s the first day / week of school, so I don’t go too crazy with things that feel like serious work. However, having these in my plans gives me a chance to collect a first day work sample from each child. Not only is it baseline data, but it gives my introverts a little bit of quiet time to process.
If I have time for only one sheet, we do this one near the end of the day. It most closely captures the message of the book and the spirit of the first day back to school. The resource includes six different emotions for the children to choose from, however they could add their own if they want to share something I didn’t include.
- shy
- nervous
- confused
- sad
- happy
- excited
A LITTLE BACK TO SCHOOL MATH
We all know how much Pigeon loves the bus, but how do your students get to school? After reading The Pigeon Has to Go to School, let the children share how they get to school. This activity is more appropriate for first grade than kindergarten, but it can be used with young kids with a little more support. If your students aren’t yet reading independently, simply read the poem to them.
If, however, they’re able, divide the class into four groups and give each team a line of the poem to reconstruct. This will give you a good idea of how they collaborate and problem-solve to make sense of their mixed up word cards.
TIP: Printing them on colored card stock helps each group identify their own line. Plus, that’ll make the cards sturdier so you can use them year after year.👇
Near the bottom of the poem, I post several sticky notes with different types of transportation on them. These are the choices the students have that will lead into the math graphing lesson. I’ve included a template in the Pigeon Pack which makes it easy to print on 3×3 sticky notes. That being said, you could just as easily print the images on plain copy paper.
From here, it’s super easy to build a simple bar graph on our white board using the sticky notes the children chose. Because each form of transportation is organized by its own color, it’s clear for us to see how many people are represented in each bar on the graph. I’ve included a math worksheet for collecting and analyzing the class data, but with kindergarten kids, you can simply keep it conversational. Gather around your sticky note bar graph and ask questions like:
- “How many children come to school on a bus?”
- “How many kids walk to school?”
- “Does anyone ride a bike? How many?”
- “Which number is greater? The number of kids who come by car or van?”
- “In all, how many people are represented on our class graph?”
THE BACK TO SCHOOL PIGEON PACK
To preview the materials in the resource, CLICK HERE. They’re great for the first week of first grade, but will definitely work with kindergarten children with a few modifications or added support. And, not to be left out, I know plenty of incoming 2nd graders who are still giant Pigeon (and Elephant and Piggie) fans! The familiarity of these characters makes them fun choices for the first day of second grade!
MORE BACK TO SCHOOL POSTS FOR K-2
BACK TO SCHOOL ACTIVITIES – IF I BUILT A SCHOOL
MORNING GREETINGS – FUN WAYS TO SAY HEY!
CLASSROOM POSTERS THAT DEVELOP POSITIVE BEHAVIORS
Happy teaching! 🙂
