In March, kindergarteners focused on the author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers, who is best known for his books How to Catch a Star, Lost and Found, and The Day the Crayons Quit. We began our author study on Jeffers by watching a video that explained how he started in the children’s book industry and what inspired him to pursue this path.
The students also had the opportunity to see him draw a few of his most famous characters! After the video, the students listened to the story The Day the Crayons Quit. This story features letters from different colored crayons, each expressing their complaints about being used too much or not being used at all. The students then were able to pretend to be one of the crayons, writing letters to themselves who use crayons a lot. Each student chose a colored crayon and wrote a short letter expressing their thoughts on why their crayon is important, what it is used for, or why it might feel tired from being used too much. The students found this activity amusing, and they also realized that each crayon had its own personality, just like each student in our class. The students loved exploring other books by Jeffers during silent reading time as well.
