During April and May, the first grade students enjoyed meeting Peter Rabbit and the many other precious woodland characters created by Beatrix Potter. The children started by reading a biography about her life and achievements. They were fascinated to find out that The Tale of Peter Rabbit originated as a letter written to a young boy named Noel Moore. Then, they delighted in getting to know her characters by reading a number of her tales. The first graders engaged in many activities during this thematic unit: creating addition and subtraction story problems using the characters and events, writing mini-letters to classmates in the voice of different animals, sketching and water coloring vegetables from "Mr. McGregor's Garden," forming three-dimensional figures from model magic, exploring a Peter Rabbit website, and decorating t-shirts for the Peter Rabbit Assembly (during which they performed a musical version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.) This event was followed by presentations in each of the first grade classrooms including a play, a slide show about the characters, and the reading of mini-letters. ~Ms. Lowell
