What next with Pete the Cat?

There is no doubt that kids in our school love the book, Pete the Cat. When I blogged about it last spring, I had no idea that this book was going be such a sensation. Kindergarten kids began painting Pete as their fourth grade buddies sang and painted along. First graders were begging for the book to be read again and again. This book caught everyones attention. I know that part of excitement of Pete the Cat is that not only is it a book, but it is a catchy song with a free download at Harper Collins. And, the live re-telling is must. This book has multiple ways for kids ( and teachers) to access the enjoyment.

I wanted to use the kids excitement to fuel further learning with Pete the Cat in the classroom. So, I posted the three repetitive lines for shared reading on our sentence chart (smart board users I am sure there some more techy/interactive way you could extend this idea but I don't have a smartboard). I use shared reading to build in review of some print concepts (one to one match, right to left progression, difference between letter and word, etc), reading strategies and often highlight

high frequency words. Last week (with the downloaded song in the background) we sang and pointed to the repetitive words up on our sentence chart. I cut up the words, threw them in an envelope and modeled how to put together the Pete the Cat Puzzle during morning meeting. The puzzle has been loved during morning reading and play time this week. I caught these partners singing along enjoying their song. It was probably one of the happiest moments of the day. Tomorrow, I am creating a book with a photo of each student's shoes (they were very excited to pose) and I will be asking kids to help me generate some repetitive text for our own book about shoes. I want to add student names into this book so they practice reading and learning class names. Who knew Pete would allow us to be so productive and happy? (My apologies for the poor camera work, but I think you will get the idea.)