This post is insanely overdue. I did a Laura Numeroff unit with kindergarten in November and December. We started with Dogs Don’t Wear Sneakers at the end of our October “imagination” unit. Then starting in November we read all of her If You… books, starting with the classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We talked about what “circular stories” are, stories that end the same way they began.

Then in December, just like we did last year for this unit, we wrote our own If You… stories. We brainstormed our favorite animals until we could agree on one as a class. Then we thought of things to give them or places to take them. It’s a very democratic process, but with a lot of steering by me (kindergartners can be very easily distracted).

We were the authors of the story as a class, and then we became illustrators once the stories were written. Each student got a scene from our class story to draw. Some of them are right on the money, some of them are just 5-year-olds having fun. But I love this unit, I have so much fun with it. But I didn’t get the projects hung in our library gallery until the 1st week of January, and then I was out sick forever and didn’t get photos taken right away. So that’s that. Below are the stories we wrote in each class.

If you Give a Monkey a Haircut

If you give a monkey a haircut, he’s going to try and hide.
You will give him a chocolate robot to make him come out.
He will eat the robot.
Eating the robot will remind him of his favorite toy.
He will ask you to take him to the toy store to get his toy a friend.
At the store, he will see a giant stuffed banana.
The banana will make him hungry.
He will ask you to take him to the grocery store to buy bananas.
Eating the banana will make him want chocolate.
The chocolate will remind him of the chocolate robot.
Chances are he will ask you for a chocolate robot.
And if you give him a chocolate robot,
He will let you take him to get a haircut.

If You Give a Goat a Pizza

If you give a goat a pizza,
She’s going to ask for a plate.
When you give her the plate, she will ask for a spoon and a fork.
She will have a hard time cutting with the spoon.
She will get cheese and pepperoni EVERYWHERE.
She will go to the kitchen to get a sponge to clean up.
On her way to the kitchen she will see the pool.
She will want to go in.
She will ask for a bathing suit and towel.
She will climb the ladder to go down into the pool.
She will want you to play Marco Polo with her.
This will make her want to invite her friends lion, duck, squirrel, and dog over for a pool party.
And chances are,
If she throws a pool party.

If You Give a Dolphin a Sandwich

If you give a dolphin a sandwich,
He will ask you to cut it into triangles.
Seeing the triangles will remind him of Santa’s hat
He will ask you to take him to the mall to see Santa.
Santa will give him a lollipop.
The lollipop will make him thirsty.
He will ask to go to the water fountain.
The water will remind him of home.
He will ask you to take him to the aquarium.
At the aquarium he will see a shark’s fin.
The fin will remind him of triangles.
And chances are if he thinks about triangles,
He’s going to ask you for a sandwich.

If You Take an Elephant to the Mall

If you take an elephant to the mall,
He’s going to ask you for some shoes.
You’ll take him to the dancing shoes store,
And he will get tap shoes.
On the checkout line he will start dancing with the checkout girl.
Dancing will remind him of his days in the circus.
He will want to go back to visit his friends.
Going back to the circus will make him miss his mom.
So he will want you to take him to Africa!
You’re going to need a suitcase.
You will pack picture frames, a camera, and clothes.
Packing will make him want to say goodbye to his new friend the checkout girl.
And chances are, if he wants to say goodbye
You’ll have to take him back to the mall.