The Story of Jumping Mouse is an engaging story full of life lessons for any age. It allows the reader to make connections to their own lives and the lives of others. It incorporates many character traits, perspectives on seeing the world in different ways, and examples of how we should treat others. Jumping Mouse is curious and has a dream to fulfill. This legend takes us through his journey as we recognize our own actions and feelings in many of the characters.

Used as part of our �tales and legends� genre study, my students were able to pick out the elements of a tale in this story. We found: the characters are �personified.� There were lessons learned (of lasting importance). There was also some magical events,

We read this book twice. The first time was to just listen. We later discussed the story in literature circle groups. The second time it was read, students used post-it notes to record character traits of the characters. We then gathered to list the character traits that the characters exhibited. This also generated a lot of discussion about the characters actions.

Student then were given one trait to write a journal response on. Some students write about themselves while others wrote about someone else. This personal connection created great discussion during sharing time!

Using Kidspiration, students created self character webs using character traits to describe themselves.

Connecticut Standards:
Technology: Standard 1: Basic Operations and Concepts Standard
2: Social, Ethical and Human Issues (practice responsible use of technology)
Standard 3: Technology Productivity Tools (use of appropriate software)
Standard 4: Technology Communication Tools (Use of technology resources)

Language Arts:
Standard 1: Reading and Responding (1.1, 1.2, 1.4)
Standard 2: Exploring and Responding to Literature (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4)

Physical Education and Character Education:
Standard 4: Responsible Behavior