Mrs. Duncan: Dr. Seuss Week

I love Dr. Seuss! I love his whimsical characters and wacky designs! This week at school we are celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday!
Here are some of the fun activities we did!

1. Cat in the Hat Name activity

We have been working with patterns as well as our names for a few months now. Most of the class can independently write their first and last names :D.
This was an easy activity to "test" them in their ability to put the letters in their names in the correct order as well as make a pattern with the colors. I think they turned out really well!

2. 10 Apples Up On Top
Number sense is a skill we diligently work on in our classroom in a variety of ways. We daily count to the day's date on our calendar, we count how many girls/boys and add them together, we play games, and sing songs. Applying these skills in a variety of ways, helps us to accurately assess their learning.
After reading the book 10 Apples Up On Top, the students got a chance to show us their ability at putting numbers #1-10 in order. Not that we didn't help them, but we only would verbally help them count...they had to glue the numbered apples in number order on their own. Our reason was to see what can they do independently. This activity is one we will set aside for our spring parent conferences too.

3. L is for Lorax

This week our letter is L so of course with it being Dr. Seuss week we have to include the Loras!!

This morning during what is normally our table centers, the students were invited to create their own truffela trees from Dr.Seuss's The Lorax. We were not able to read the story during this activity due to a fire drill and then chapel (so we will tomorrow) but they were able to create a fun and colorful trees.

Each child was given a coffee filter and markers. After decorating the coffee filter, they chose two colors of big, fluffy pipe cleaners. We helped them twist them together and then taped them to the coffee filters. TADA!! Truffela trees!

4. Cat in the Hat Directed Drawings

I think one of my favorite read alouds to do is The Cat in the Hat! I have read it so many times I barely have to look at the pages (and for the most part don't mess up the rhyming lol). Since our day was a little short, I chose to read the story to them while my class was eating lunch (we eat in our room). They were so captivated by this silly story that we kept the fun going with an art project= directed drawings.

I LOVE leading kids in directed drawings!! Most start out wary of their ability to draw something, but we do a simple confidence building activity beforehand to pump them up!

I give out their paper and pencils and tell them to hold their pencil up in the air then to repeat after me "I will try my best! I am an artist!".

We also talk quickly about how each person's drawing will look different and that is great!!!!

So, I normally use a light colored piece of construction paper taped to the wall or dry erase board so that everyone can see. I use the colored paper so that they can see how I fill the page and the direction of the page.

We go step by step using simple lines or shapes (great way to review shapes too!!). There are 2 students that struggle a bit with this whole group so I normally pull them aside and we do it in a small group setting (and they do awesome!)

Here are our Cat in the Hats!

5. Thing 1 and Thing 2

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are always a big hit with kids---they are silly and wild and do things we know that should not (fly a kite in the house ?!).

I love finding new ways for kids to use paint---fingers, q-tips, toothbrushes, etc. So today we used straws! I put some watered down blue paint on a piece of paper with Thing 1/2's head on it. Then I showed them how I could carefully blow on the paint to spread it out. They LOVED it! Some blew it around and then used the straw to make it go exactly where they wanted. Here is a quick picture of one students in action ...I'll post the finished projects later once they are dried.

6. There's A Wocket in My Pocket

Earlier in the week, the kids were invited to bring a small "wocket" to keep in their pocket at school. We don't normally have a show and tell at school so they were really excited about this! We listened to the story (I could not find my copy of the book) and then created our own class book about the silly creatures in our pockets. They had a blast creating a silly creature like the ones we see in Dr. Seuss's books!