What does Frederick do to prepare for winter?

The title of this post is a play on the essential question of the unit of study that we are undertaking in science.  The question is actually, "What do animals do to prepare for winter?"  As part of our study, we read,  Frederick,  by Leo Lionni.  Originally published in 1967,  Frederick is the story of a field mouse who chooses to collect sunshine, colors, and words instead of the usual corn and wheat that other members of his family collect to prepare for winter.  When Frederick's mice family is freezing and without food during the winter, they appeal to Frederick's "supplies" of sunshine, colors, and words to help them make it through the winter.  Frederick delivers in the end - all three of his supplies lift the spirits of his family.

I like this book because in the end, the wayward character, Frederick, does not get chastised for not doing what the other members of his family do to prepare for winter.  Instead, Frederick's family is impressed with his supplies.  Thematically, Leo Lionni's book honors those of us whose heart beats to a different drummer.

This book connected to our science unit by teaching where and what mice do to prepare for winter, and how they survive during the winter.  Its multilevels are a perfect match for our science unit.

One of the activities that we did was to retell the story in pictures and words.  Each child was given a sentence that describes an event from the book.  They illustrated the event and we arranged their illustrations on this bulletin board:

This is the completed bulletin board inside the classroom.

This is one student's illustration of the wayward Frederick

And then winter came. . .

Frederick said his words in the form of a beautiful poem at the end of the story.