Connecting
A Celebration of “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes
and Our Perfect Names!
Firstgradewow.blogspot.com
Connecting
She was a perfect baby, and she had a perfect name. Chrysanthemum. When she was old enough to appreciate it, Chrysanthemum loved her name. And then she started school.
Happy To Be Me
(color) is my hair.
(color) are my eyes.
I'm _____ years old
and just the right size.
My name is _____ and
as you can see
I'm very happy to be
me!
I love this book because it shows
that unkind words can and do hurt.
They hurt hearts. As Chrysanthemum
enters school she is bullied by
classmates about her name. As I
read the book to the class, I pass
around a large paper heart. Every
time one of the characters in the
book makes fun of Chrysanthemum,
the kids take turns crumpling up the
paper heart. As it turns out, at the
end of the story Chrysanthemum’s
teacher has an interesting name as
well. She announces that she might
name her child Chrysanthemum! The
other characters stop bullying
Chrysanthemum! In class we try to
smooth out the crumpled heart, but
it never is quite the same. I let the
kids put Band-Aids on the heart and
hang it up as a yearlong visual to the
importance of using kind words!! See
next page for visual.
Before you speak
Think and be smart.
It’s hard to fix
A wrinkled heart!
Add this little poem to
your wrinkled heart.
My name is
_______________.
I like my name
because
________________
________________
________________
________________
_______________.
Name_______________
Chrysanthemum’s name begins
with a ____.
My name begins with a ___.
Chrysanthemum has ___
letters in her name.
I have _____ letters in my name.
Chrysanthemum has ___
vowels in her name.
I have _____ vowels in my
name.
Chrysanthemum has ____
consonants in her name.
I have ____ consonants in my
name.
Chrysanthemum and Me
Chrysanthemum’s name is perfect and…
Craft Connection
Kids make their own
Chrysanthemum using heart
patterns on next page or cut your
own. Add whiskers and a bow.
Then kids write on thought bubble
filling in their name. Cut out and
display together.
Chrysanthemum’s
Head
C’s white ears
C’s pink
ears and
nose