Pete the Cat Update

Two posts in one day!  Wow, I am on a roll!  OK, so I went to Michael's and bought some really cute buttons and mini Velcro dots.  I then went to my local teacher supply place because I really wanted to laminate my cat and I didn't want to wait until Monday.  I am so excited with the outcome.  After laminating my cat at the teacher store I decided I will laminate them all there.  They have a thicker laminate then my school and I think it will hold up much better.  You might notice in the pictures that I put 5 buttons on Pete instead of 4.  That is because the Common Core Standard says that kindergarten students should be able to add and subtract within 5.  So I decided to add 5 buttons to Pete instead of 4. 

 



Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

I love Pete the Cat!  Don't you?  So I am planning on reading the book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons next week to my class.  I want to work on subtracting and Pete is the perfect cat for the job.  I decided I wanted to make a Pete that my students could use to manipulate buttons while figuring out subtraction problems.  So I got out my new Cricut mini machine and this is what I came up with. 

Here is what you need to make Pete: 

Create a Critter 2 cartridge- I used the cat on pg. 60.  I stretched the cat to fill up my entire mat.  I also used the shirt on pg. 47 of Create a Critter 2 and stretched it to fit on the cat.

The eyes, nose and buttons were made using Cricut Font and Basic Shapes.  I used the circle for the buttons, the triangle for the nose, the yellow part of the eyes were made using the shape that looks like a oval with points on the end.  The inside of the eyes were made using a shape like a teardrop.  The great part about the Cricut mini is that you can layer all the shapes on your mat using your computer so you can play around with the sizes. 

 

I think Pete turned out really cute!  I am going to put velcro on the backs of the buttons after I laminate Pete and the buttons so that my students can add and remove the buttons as they practice subtracting. 

I hope you can use this idea in your class.  Happy crafting!  Let me know if you have any questions.

-Tracy