Connecting

A Celebration of “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes

and Our Perfect Names!

Firstgradewow.blogspot.com

Connecting

She was a perfect baby, and she had a perfect name. Chrysanthemum. When she was old enough to appreciate it, Chrysanthemum loved her name. And then she started school.

Happy To Be Me

(color) is my hair.

(color) are my eyes.

I'm _____ years old

and just the right size.

My name is _____ and

as you can see

I'm very happy to be

me!

I love this book because it shows

that unkind words can and do hurt.

They hurt hearts. As Chrysanthemum

enters school she is bullied by

classmates about her name. As I

read the book to the class, I pass

around a large paper heart. Every

time one of the characters in the

book makes fun of Chrysanthemum,

the kids take turns crumpling up the

paper heart. As it turns out, at the

end of the story Chrysanthemum’s

teacher has an interesting name as

well. She announces that she might

name her child Chrysanthemum! The

other characters stop bullying

Chrysanthemum! In class we try to

smooth out the crumpled heart, but

it never is quite the same. I let the

kids put Band-Aids on the heart and

hang it up as a yearlong visual to the

importance of using kind words!! See

next page for visual.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qnq1GZytoT8/TtGQ-fJpL2I/AAAAAAAAAFc/Sy_fXnL-i74/s1600/IMG_4993.JPG

Before you speak

Think and be smart.

It’s hard to fix

A wrinkled heart!

Add this little poem to

your wrinkled heart.

My name is

_______________.

I like my name

because

________________

________________

________________

________________

_______________.

Name_______________

Chrysanthemum’s name begins

with a ____.

My name begins with a ___.

Chrysanthemum has ___

letters in her name.

I have _____ letters in my name.

Chrysanthemum has ___

vowels in her name.

I have _____ vowels in my

name.

Chrysanthemum has ____

consonants in her name.

I have ____ consonants in my

name.

Chrysanthemum and Me

Chrysanthemum’s name is perfect and…

Craft Connection

Kids make their own

Chrysanthemum using heart

patterns on next page or cut your

own. Add whiskers and a bow.

Then kids write on thought bubble

filling in their name. Cut out and

display together.

Chrysanthemum’s

Head

C’s white ears

C’s pink

ears and

nose