Grandma's cat Snowy is about to have kittens, and Lisa and her little brother Joey will get to keep one. Little Pepper, whose white fur is dotted with black spots, has a very busy first year. Lisa keeps track of the highlights using a calendar. Her journal is also filled with lots of nifty information about cats.
Events in people's lives are measured by time, so it is important that children understand the relationships between days, weeks, months, and years.
Illustrated by Marsha Winborn.
After reading the story, make a list of family or class events that occur on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Help your child (or class) record the events on the calendar.
Teacher Idea: Inspired by "Pepper’s Journal: A Kitten’s First Year," the first graders at my school, Schyulkill Elementary, charted the progress of Bandit, a kitten adopted from the SPCA by a family in the school district. On the first Friday of every month, Bandit went to school. The kids started out trying to estimate how long his tail was. Then they measured it. They did the same for his left leg, width-of-body, and length from head-to-tail, practicing first on their favorite stuffed animals brought in from home. Over the school year, little Bandit was also weighed and his growth recorded on a line graph. The kids even figured out how to measure the right amount of food to put in Bandit’s bowl. Each child created a "Bandit's Journal," using all the data that had been gathered over the year, along with their wonderful drawings. We also used Stuart’s books "Mighty Maddie" to learn about comparing weights, "Get Up and Go!" to understand elapsed time, and "A House for Birdie" to introduce the concept of capacity. —Virginia Salava, Schyukill Elementary School, Phoenixville, PA
