Adventuremice: Mice on the Ice

Learning Goals

• Describe Pedro and the Adventuremice using evidence from the words and illustrations in Mice on the Ice.
• Explain how the icy setting creates challenges and influences the characters’ actions.
• Retell an adventure episode in sequence, identifying the challenge, response, and outcome.
• Create an illustrated scene showing how a mouse-sized adventurer could solve an icy-weather problem through teamwork.

Activity Steps

1. 1.Preview the cover and selected illustrations from Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre’s Mice on the Ice. Ask: What challenges might ice create for a tiny mouse? Record predictions to revisit after reading. (5 minutes)
2. 2.Read aloud the book or a selected episode featuring an icy challenge. Pause to discuss Pedro’s actions and what the illustrations reveal about the setting and characters’ feelings. Younger students can point to evidence; older students can explain how words and pictures work together. (15 minutes)
3. 3.Build a class chart with three headings: Icy Challenge, Character Response, and Outcome. Fill it using details from the reading, and discuss where cooperation helps the Adventuremice. (7 minutes)
4. 4.Have students fold paper into three panels and draw the beginning, middle, and end of the selected episode. Grades K–1 can dictate captions; grades 2–5 can write captions that explain how the setting affects events. (8 minutes)
5. 5.Invite students to draw an additional Adventuremice scene in which a team tackles an icy problem. Label a helpful tool and show each mouse’s contribution. Partners share their scenes and identify one detail consistent with the book’s characters or setting. Revisit the opening predictions. (10 minutes)