About the Junie B. Jones Book and This Guide

Meet Junie B. Jones, that lovable, mischievous kindergartner, in this humorous series by Barbara Park. Follow Junie B. from her first day of kindergarten to her last as she gets into one scrape after another. While laughing along with Junie B. and her friends, your students will begin to expand their word recognition, develop a sense of story, and begin to read these early chapter books on their own.

In this guide, a language arts lesson is used to discuss the proper way to deal with and express anger. The second classroom activity uses the festivities of Valentine's Day to help teach a math lesson that includes graphing. Both of these topics are found in the books Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday (#6) and Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime (#14).

About the Books

#6 Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday
That meanie Jim has invited everyone in Room Nine to his birthday party on Saturday- except Junie B.! Should she have her own birthday party six months early and not invite Jim? Or should she move to It's a Small World After All in Disneyland?

Barbara Park says...
"Have you ever been the only one not invited to a birthday? (Me too!) But when I started writing this book, I was sure that Junie B. would find a way to end up at Jim's party whether he wanted her there or not!) But then came Chapter 8 . . . and she bought him that wonderful tool belt. And all of a sudden I knew that there was no way Junie B. Jones would ever be able to give that meanie boy such a wonderful gift! "So what's the next best thing to a party? "Fixing a toilet, of course! "Especially if it's with your favorite grandpa!"
©1996 Barbara Park

#14 Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime
Hurray! February 14 - Valentime's Day, as Junie B. calls it - is just around the corner. Junie B. can't wait to see all the valentimes she'll get. But she never expected a big, mushy card from a secret admirer! Who is this secret mystery guy, anyway? Junie B. is determined to find out!

Barbara Park says...
"No doubt about it . . . Valentine's Day was always my favorite party day of the school year. The beautiful box, the pretty room decorations, the yummy cupcakes. But the best part was seeing all those cards piling up on my desk!

I loved taking them home and reading them over and over in my room. I'd look at each card and try to figure out hidden meanings and secret messages. Did the boy I had a crush on really like me back? And what about all the other kids? Did they like me, too?

But I never had a Valentine's Day quite as exciting as Junie B.'s. How can you beat a mushy gushy card from a secret admirer?"
©1997 Barbara Park

Classroom Connections

Pre-Reading Activities

In Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday, Junie B. is very upset when Jim doesn't invite her to his birthday party and decides she wants to move her birthday to the same day, so she can have a party. Her mother explains that birthdays don't work that way. Design a calendar or use an existing one to show all of your students' birthdays and display it in the classroom.

Junie B. decides that she really likes Valentine's Day in Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime. Ask each student what his or her favorite holiday is and why. Have your students draw a picture of themselves celebrating the holiday.

Mad as a Wet Hen

When Junie B. isn't invited to that Jim's birthday party, she expresses her anger by making up a story about a mean boy who gets stompled into a pancake and eaten by children. Ask your students to share situations in their own lives that made them feel angry. Have them discuss acceptable ways we deal with anger in the real world. Then, have them write stories expressing and resolving anger in imaginative ways often found in folk and fairy tales.

Valentine Candy Count

Valentine's celebrations could easily offer an opportunity for a fun graphing activity just by including a 12 oz. bag of Valentine's candy hearts in the party menu. Break your students into groups, giving each equal numbers of candy hearts in a paper cup. Have each group sort and do a color count for the candies in their cups. Then, using crayons to match candy colors, have each group illustrate its findings in a color-coded bar graph. Finally, group results can be combined into an overall class bar graph showing total color counts before students set about munching their candies.

Printable Activites

For use with #6 From Junie B. Jones and that Meanie Jim's Birthday:
Junie B.'s Tools of the Trade