Items filtered by date: January 2013

1-2-3 Come Write With Me! Waddle You Write About?

I love using a poster as a segue for a writing assignment.  Dr. Seuss's "Lucky Duckie" quotation is a great vehicle for that. 

It's from his book Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?  which is a wonderful story for discussing the theme of contentment, and being happy with who you are.

"Thank goodness for all of the things you are not! Thank goodness you're not something someone forgot...That's why I say, "Duckie! Don't grumble! Don't stew!  Some critters are much-much, oh, ever so much-much, so muchly much-much more unlucky than you!"

Print off the poster and share it with your students. In a discussion before hand, brainstorm why a person is lucky.  What things do they have, that others who don’t live in America, or who are poor, don’t have etc.

Print off the cover for the class book + the writing prompt page for each of your students. 

Remind them of beginning capitalization, end punctuation and spaces between their words and you have covered 3 common core standards.

Students trace the beginning prompt and then complete the sentences: "I think I'm a lucky ducky because..." and "I'm glad I don't..."

Collect and collate the pages and share the completed book with your class, by having each student read their page when you come to it.   If you don't want to make a class book, you can use the duck template and make an adorable spring bulletin board for March is Reading Month.

Here's How: Run off the ducks on yellow construction paper.  
Students cut them out and then write why they feel they are lucky.  

For more pizzazz, add a wiggle eye. student photo, feather, and a 3 dimensional beak. Mount the ducklings on a blue background bulletin board, so that the ducks look like they are swimming in a pond.  Add clouds to the sky.

Glue the poster to a sheet of pastel construction paper and put it in the middle of the board. Add some toilet paper roll “cat tails” for a 3D effect + some pastel polka dot or striped bulletin board boarder for that finishing touch.

Click on the link to view/download Dr. Seuss Lucky Ducky Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  

"Today you are you; that is truer than true, there is no one else that is youer than you." -Dr. Seuss

3 pages. A fun reading poem that I wrote to encourage students to read everywhere!

1-2-3 Come Pattern With Me!

Whenever I covered patterns, I usually passed out several colored manipulatives like Unifix cubes or patterning blocks, so that my students could complete the patterns and show me one of their own and then name it, such as ABAB, ABCABC, ABBA etc.

I wanted to think of something different to do, as a math center, for Dr. Seuss Week, so I frogged around with a variety of things a child could create with the stripes on a Cat in the Hat hat.

The result is the 10-page packet: Dr. Seuss Hat Patterning

I think your students will enjoy these hands-on activities and game.  

They are an easy and fun way to whole-group assess patterning. 
Make a class set of the white-hat template, and cut a variety of colored construction paper strips.

Children choose 2 colors.  Teacher calls out a pattern and students arrange their stripes to show it.  You can see at a glance who needs help. 

If you don't want to save the game for next year, when you have completed your assessment, have students glue their stripes to their hat showing their favorite pattern. 

There are also several art "craftivities" as well, including my Y5's favorite, which was designing their own Seuss hat.

For little ones, use the pattern that has stripes on it, so that they can simply color it differently than the real cat's hat.

For some great fine motor practice, instead of coloring their hat, have children rip and tear a colored strip of construction paper and then glue the pieces to their hat.  Reinforce an ABAB pattern by having them choose only one color. 

Use the blank template for older students and encourage them to design a hat with something other than stripes.  Click on the link to view/download the Dr. Seuss Hat Patterning Packet.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.   Do you have a Dr. Seuss activity you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com  or post a comment here.

"Fill your house with books, in all of the crannies and all of the nooks!" -Dr. Seuss

9 pages. Common Core State Standard: RL.1.2 Everything you need to review the elements of a story, as well as helping students to sequence and retell it.

2 pages. A fun way to review skip counting by 10's. A nice plug-in for your Seuss-themed activities.

20 pages. Common Core State Standards: RF.K.1d, L.K.1a, L.1.1a You'll find a nice variety of interesting ways to review upper and lowercase letters, including games, worksheets, and assessments.

4 pages. Having a "Cat in the Hat, hat stacking" contest is a great way to motivate students to read.

5 pages. Use this Seuss-inspired Lucky Ducky Writing Prompt poster, as a jump start for making a class book or March Is Reading Month bulletin board.

1-2-3 Come Tell Time With Me!

The Cat in the Hat Telling Time Game is a fun additon for your Seuss-themed activities.

Students make their analog Cat in the Hat clock and add digital time stripes to their hat by rolling dice.

They trace the stripe, place it on their hat and then manipulate the paperclip hands to show the analog time.

The first one with a completed hat, or the one with the most stripes when the timer rings, is the winner.

Teachers should make a sample for demonstration and then use it as an anchor chart for the month of March.

Click on the link to view/download The Cat In The Hat Telling Time Game.

These Seuss bookmarks would make a nice "prize" for the winners, or use them as a sweet surprise, and leave them on your students desks.

Click on the link to view/download the Dr. Seuss Bookmarks.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others may find helpful.

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." -Dr. Seuss