At the beginning of March, our class transformed to prepare for a celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. The children learned about this wonderful author and his contributions to the literary world.
Integrated within our theme were several math concepts such as identifying shape attributes (# of sides, corners, size comparisons), comparing the volume of different containers, measuring with nonstandard units and counting. The students continued to practice letter and name writing. We also spent time doing a variety of activities to practice identifying, producing and matching rhymes and opposites.
In the dramatic play center, the children were able to visit or cook at the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe. Items on the menu included green eggs and ham, Pink Ink Drink and Schlopp with a cherry on top.
Students painted fish using dot dabbers after reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish.
Another activity to accompany the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was fish patterns. The children used Goldfish crackers to finish paper patterns. They also practiced addition by rolling a die and adding fish to a fishbowl. The children then counted the total number of fish in the bowl.
Our craft project included making Thing One and Thing Two. The children cut out shapes and glued them together for the body. Next they drew a face and finally they dropped blue paint on paper with droppers. After the hair was finished, the children used straws to blow the hair in different directions.
In the playdoh center, the children played with red and white playdoh. They were given materials to make a model Cat in the Hat, but also made their own creations.
After reading The Cat in the Hat, we talked about what the word balance means. The children were then asked to balance "Hats" (cups) on top of one another to see how high they could make their tower. The children were able to choose from small, medium or large cups. They were also given index cards. The children tried several different ways to stack their cups. After a discussion, they also determined which size cup was the most stable.
On Wacky Wednesday the children arrived to school to find out that our classroom was "wacky". As a class we counted 20 sticky notes each representing one wacky thing in the classroom. The children next went on a scavenger hunt to find something wacky and put a sticky note next to it.
Also on Wacky Wednesday, the children tried some new activities including drawing on paper under the table rather than on top.
On Crazy Sock Day we read Fox in Socks and talked about the patterns on some of our crazy socks!
At the sensory table, we continued wth rainbow rice. The children love pouring, mixing and dumping the rice.
All of the classrooms were visited by community readers. We were fortunate to have our very own librarian, Mrs. Redding come to our class. She read Hooray for Hat by Brian Won. It was a great story about sharing and brightening someone's day.
For two weeks we read several Dr. Seuss books including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Wacky Wednesday, One Fish Two Fish and Put Me in the Zoo. The children enjoyed looking at these and other Seuss books during free reading time.
Green Eggs and Ham yoga poses!
Science was integrated into our study of Seuss when we made Ooblek. The children had the opportunity to mix the ingredients together and then play with the substance discovering its many properties as a gooey liquid and hard solid.
The students measured themselves next to Yertles then compared their heights with classmates.
We continued our Seuss theme in the gym where the children pretended to be fish swimming on scooters. balanced a ball and bean bag on a plate (green eggs and ham), ran through cones like Thing 1 and Thing 2, crawled over mats like Yertle the Turtle, and balanced beanbags on their head while walking on a balance beam as in the book Ten Apples Up On Top.
On red and white day, all of the children made Cat in the Hat hats to show off their love of Dr. Seuss.
