Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by. Eileen Spinelli
I am just loving how this unit turned out. These first graders in the Seattle area have ABSOLUTLEY loved it! You can purchase this unit individually for $3.50 or in my Valentine bundle for $8 which also comes with No Prep Activities for Valentine's Day, Literacy Centers, and Math Centers! Check out the bundle below:
Onto more about Just Mr. Hatch! This story is so darling, and I love that you can watch the book on YouTube thanks to the screen actors guild!
Don't you just love Hector Elizondo!? He will forever be in my teenage heart thanks to Princess Diaries!
No onto how this is being used in the classroom!
I love how this teacher had them draw a line down the middle of their Character Traits heart to show how the traits for Mr. Hatch were in the beginning and the end of the story. I am huge on picture support with student images to help them in their writing. This teacher gave them the option on their "5 ways Mr. Hatch Changed" sheet to draw pictures to represent it or write. I think it is so important to emphasis that in brainstorming pictures are AOKAY! It helps those who struggle in writing to get their brain going. I am a visual person before starting many of my products I actually make pictures. I mean think about it... does your brain flash printed letters as you brainstorm or is it pictures?! Pictures! Okay I am starting to ramble, but I think you get what I am saying. Many teachers think "well how do we know it isn't just a random picture?" I dare you to ask them what their picture represents, you may just be shocked by their response! ;).
When coming up with the craft for Mr. Hatch I was tempted to give templates for his face, but I halted myself. Mr. Hatch is such a beautifully simple person that even a Kindergartner could draw his face! That is the whole idea he is a "Plain Jane", but is a wonderful person on the inside if someone could just look past the outside. For that reason I felt the face of Mr. Hatch truly needed to be kid drawn. I have other reason why the Mr. Hatch Craft is the way it is, but you'll have to purchase to find that one out ;).
Sometimes as teachers we get so overwhelmed about these Anchor Charts. That they need to have the; wow! Although it is great to have illustration maybe you just don't have that skill. This was a simple anchor chart done by a first grade teacher so she could show Mr. Hatch's Character traits changed. Guess what everybody??? It still does the job, and really with the simplicity of it kind of ties in well with dear simple Mr. Hatch don't you think? ;).
