Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

((PS: Check out the Classroom Pictures page at the top - I just added my new room arrangement!))

I absolutely cannot wait for next year because all of my themed lessons will (hopefully) be up and ready to read through and decide what stays and goes!  I am all about some reflective practices (thanks a lot, ECU!).  We had a blast saying Happy Birthday to the one, the only, Dr. Seuss!  Did you know that he would have been 107 this year?  Did you know he wrote over 40 books?  Did you know he illustrated his own books?

I don't have a picture of it, but we received a special freebie package from Scholastic News, and it was just in time for Dr. Seuss's birthday. It had a mini-newspaper all about the crazy rhymer himself.  We shared and learned things that no one, not even yours truly knew.  It was great!  I may have to subscribe to Scholastic News next year.

Anyway, we started the day by coloring a very cute picture of the Cat in the Hat for Morning Work.  One of my kindergarten team-mates had it from the dark ages.  They had so much fun coloring him in while looking at all of the Dr. Seuss "stuff" I set out the night before.

Next it was time to read some books after our Morning Meeting and Calendar Meeting.  We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  Everyone was given a dry-erase board and had to come up with lots of rhyming words.

What's a Dr. Seuss celebration without reading Green Eggs and Ham?  We couldn't have the actual snack because of egg allergies in the class.  Maybe we can try next year...  I let this kick-off our word families study.  We talked about the -at word family.  Then, we made our wonderful Cat-in-the-Hat Hats!  My assistant who should be an artist designed extra-large versions of his famous hat.  We colored them in and then stapled them on to cardstock.  We taped drinking straws on the back of the hats so they could stand up.

Next up: a Cat-in-the-Hat Glyph!!  We got this wonderful idea from thevirtualvine.com but tweaked it a little...  I also blurred their names for privacy reasons.  They decided at the end to put ____________ in the Hat.  So mine was Brenna in the Hat.

Here's what the boys did:

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And the girls...

We had the best time!  Next year I want to include a little more with small group activities, but whew this was a busy day!  There just isn't enough time...EVER!

Some of my favorites....

• Hop on Pop (-- Top 2!)
• Red Fish, Blue Fish
• Wacky Wednesday
• Horton Hatches the Egg
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
• There's a Wocket in My Pocket (--Top 2!)

And yes, we read them all!  :o)  Can't wait till next year!

...be at peace, and all will be well...