elephant activities,

1-2-3 Come Do Some Horton The Elephant Activities With Me

The first week of March we do a lot of Cat in the Hat activities to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. For the rest of March is Reading Month, I sprinkle in activities for some of his other popular stories, like Horton Hears A Who.  This blog article features 4 of my new packets. 

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersFirst up is "Hangin' Out With Horton".  Since so many teachers have the 5 senses as one of their science standards, I decided to make this sweet flip booklet featuring Horton because he HEARS a Who.

The pages of the booklet act like a "stem" for the clover that Horton is holding. Each page features one of the senses.
Students complete the simple writing prompts by filling in what Horton sees, hears, tastes, smells, and feels.

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersThis can relate to the story, or be whatever they imaginations dream up. 

The last page is also up to them, as they finish the sentence: "Horton...

For that finishing touch, have them glue their school picture to the clover. They are now an official member of "Whoville"

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersNext up is Horton Hears, which also reviews the 5 senses and matches the above packet.  

The packet includes . . .
horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readers* An alliterative and "tongue twisting" writing prompt craftivity
* Alliteration and tongue twister definition posters
* A class mini book: “Horton Hears A Who. How About You?”

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readers* “We spy an elephant’s eye and these Ee words:” posters, with matching worksheet
* Horton’s senses whole group activity, with matching individual worksheet

* Label the elephant poster, with matching worksheets
* 5 photo-posters of elephants, featuring one of the 5 senses

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readers* “My favorite sense” writing prompt with a “What’s Your Favorite Sense?” graphing extension
* “If I had to give up one of my senses it would be . . .” writing prompt with graphing extension plus a ...

* “Where might an elephant walk?” photo-poster, with matching writing prompt. 

An elephant is my favorite animal, so I'm also big on the Elmer stories by David McKee. 

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersI thought it would be fun to design a packet with both pachyderms , and just finished up-dating Horton & Elmer Fun.  This 102-page jumbo packet includes:

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readers* 4 “Craftivities”
* Games
* Pocket chart cards

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readers* Worksheets
* Posters
* Writing prompts

* Graphing activities
* Venn diagrams
* Itty Bitty color booklet

* Rhyming activity
* Lollipop certificate of praise plus
* Bookmarks.   

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersFinally, I just finished the "I Saw An Elephant" packet today. 

I designed these color activities specifically to go with Horton, but I kept this packet generic, so that it would work anytime of the year, and fits in nicely with a zoo or animal theme as well.     

It's differentiated for PK-1st grade, plus I've also included the UK "colours" and "grey" spelling options.

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersThe packet includes a variety of posters, games, writing prompts, pocket chart cards for 12 colors, with a matching bookmark.
My students keep theirs in their writing journals.

There's also an emergent reader, “Elephant Colors” booklet, filled with lots of Dolch sight words, plus  a "favorite color elephant" graphing extension, with matching “color me” worksheet.

Besides the Memory Match games, there's also 2 options for a “Roll and Color” dice game, with numbers 1-6 for PK children, plus a game sheet for numbers 1-12 with addition practice and two dice, for older kiddos.

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersTo mix math with literacy, there are full color, plus black and white number puzzles (sequencing numbers from 1-10 for PK kiddos, plus skip counting by 10s to 100 for older students.

There's also a set of Color mixing (primary to secondary colors) pocket chart cards, with a matching black & white template for students to color, which I staple together as a flip booklet.

The “mixing colors” elephant craftivity will be a big hit. My students absolutely LOVED mixing colors with finger paints.

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersThey got so excited when a new color appeared as if by “magic”. The results are awesome and make an interesting bulletin board. A caption could be: “Mixing It Up In (Kindergarten)”. 

Today's FREEBIE also features Horton. It's a sweet writing prompt craftivity, that includes the puppet craft, plus 22 writing-prompts!

horton the elephant activities, horton writing prompts, color games, elephant crafts, elephant activities, color activities, color games, color crafts, color emergent reader, elephant games, elephant centers, 5 senses activities, emergent readersWell that's it for today.  I hope you still have some time left in your busy March schedule to fit in some fun with Horton. 

The weather's hit 60 today, so the dreary snow is finally melting like crazy!  Woo Hoo; I can smell spring in the air.  Wishing you a wonderful day. 

"Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes." - Carl Friedrich Gauss

1-2-3 Come Do Some Horton Hears A Who Activities With Me

Happy TBT (Throw Back Thursday). Elephants are my favorite animals.  Although I truly love them all, the elephant holds an extra special place in my heart.  Perhaps this is why I find Dr. Seuss's Horton so endearing.  I'm also a huge fan of Elmer the Elephant as well.  

They were also very popular characters with my Y5's.  With that in mind, I designed some Horton-themed activities, with a splash of Elmer for comparison. This blast- from-the-past blog article, features 3 popular elephant-themed downloads that I hope your kiddos will enjoy. 

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoFirst up is my "Peek-a-Who" Horton-themed writing prompt packet.  Run the elephant head template off on gray construction paper; students trim. 

They have a choice of 22 "trunk tales" to pick from.  These are on separate trunks, which they trim and glue to their elephant head, then complete the writing prompt.  Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board. 

The packet also includes an elephant puppet craftivity made out of a toilet paper tube.  If you don't have time for this as a kid-craft, make one up to use as a manipulative when you read the book. 

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoAnother writing prompt craftivity reinforces rhyming.  It's a 3D project, as the elephant's ear is a flap and flips open. "Horton hears a Who, how 'bout you?"  is written on the front of the ear.

Children write their name and in Seuss-style sing song rhyme, write a few lines of what they heard: 

"Diane heard a Harley, which was really quite snarly. The Harley's name was Karly and she likes vegetable soup with barley."  

There's room under the ear for the student's illustration.  These too, make a sweet bulletin board.

Finally, I designed a whopping 42-page Horton-Elmer packet that covers lots of Common Core State Standards in interesting and fun ways.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoThere are 3 character, setting, event pocket chart cards that you can use for either story, as well as a beginning, middle, and end graphic organizer or anchor chart.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoReview who, what, why, when, where, & how with another anchor chart. 

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoAfterwards, have students complete the adorable-matching writing-prompt craftivity.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoPractice grammar at the same time reviewing the story, with 15 "fix the sentence" (with capitalization and end punctuation) Horton cards.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoUsing the 2 Venn diagrams, will help your students practice comparison and contrast writing

Here they compare charaters (Horton with Elmer), as well as each story.  For more practice, the 2 hexagon worksheets will reinforce descriptive writing using adjectives. 

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, color games, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoThere's an Elmer Spin & Color Game, which reviews colors and color words, as well as 4 graphing extensions, a "retell the story" bookmark, plus a label the Horton bookcover anchor chart activity.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoAn elephant mask craftivity; a "find the letters" newsprint-elephant craftivity, along with some tally mark practice are also included in the packet.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoReinforce colors and color words with 30 elephant color cards + a cover so that students can make an Itty Bitty booklet.   They are also great for playing all sorts of games.

Finally, there are a few rhyming, alphabetical-order worksheets with an alphabetical list of 47 words that rhyme with who. 

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, color games, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoPick and choose whatever activities fit your needs then end your day with a sweet elephant lollipop treat.  

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with who If you'd like to see the animated version of Horton Hears a Who, click on the link for Cat in the Hat theater.  It's 25-minutes long, so you could show it over 2 days, as a special treat at the end of your Seuss-celebration week.

horton hears a who activities, horton crafts, horton video, horton writing prompts, elephant crafts, elephant activities, elephant mask, elephant puppet, Seuss activities, Seuss crafts, Seuss games, comparing Elmer with Horton activities, common core Seuss, common core horton hears a who, alphabetical list of words that rhyme with whoThanks for visiting.  I'm not quite ready to let Seuss stuff go, as I'm finishing up a Cat in the Alphabet Hat packet, which has taken much longer to complete than I had planned. 

Any hoo, I hope you can pop by tomorrow for my newest Seuss FREEBIE hot off the press.  Time to go make meatloaf for dinner.  I'm wishing you a day as sweet as Horton and Elmer.

 "We won't tell anyone. And if we do, we'll tell them not to tell anyone." -Dr. Seuss's Tommy, from Horton Hears a Who

1-2-3 Come Make A Horton and Who With Me!

I always try to design some sort of "craftivity" to go with my lessons.  This helps motivate students to get down to business and stay on task, so that they can transition to the fun center.

I especially love making a manipulative that students can use while I read the story, or to show me that they understand spatial directions.

Horton writing prompts, Horton activities, horton lessons, horton crafts, horton puppets, whoville activities, whoville lessons, whoville crafts, whoville puppets, writing prompts for seuss, seuss writing prompts, writing prompts for March, bulletin boards for seuss, bulletin boards for Horton hears a who, horton bulletin board ideas,I've also found that some quiet students really come out of their shell. when they are behind a mask, or talking for a puppet, so I designed a double puppet with this Peek A Boo activity. 

How To Make Horton:  Run off the elephant on gray construction paper. Because of copyright laws I did not draw the “real” Horton.   Students color the tusks white and then cut their elephant out. Add wiggle eyes with glue dots for extra pizzazz.

The toilet paper trunk is simply covered with matching paper. Cut 2 slits so that you shove it between the elephant's tusks.  Students cut out their clover “flower” curl the end of a green pipe cleaner and tape it to the back of the clover.

I fastened a mini white pom pom for the “dust speck” but you could also use a little piece of cotton ball.  Stick the clover to Horton's trunk with a glue dot, or piece of rolled Scotch tape. The little poem on the clover says: Peek-a-me, Peek-a-you-Peek a Who from Whoville too!

Making a Who Popsicle stick Pop Up Puppet:  Tape or glue-dot 2 Popsicle sticks end to end.

I got the picture of the Who from Coloring pages ABC.  They have a variety of licensed characters that you can use to make worksheets to match your themes.

Horton writing prompts, Horton activities, horton lessons, horton crafts, horton puppets, whoville activities, whoville lessons, whoville crafts, whoville puppets, writing prompts for seuss, seuss writing prompts, writing prompts for March, bulletin boards for seuss, bulletin boards for Horton hears a who, elephant activities, horton bulletin board ideas,Because of copyrights, I did not make a page of Whos. You can click on the link and check out the Whoville characters you want, and then just copy and paste them into a word document so you can make them smaller.

Run off a master set, rough cut, and let students have a choice of  a Who.  They could also design their own.

Children color their who, trim and glue to the end of the Popsicle stick. I chose this girl from Whoville, because she had a feather on her head, so I added a feather for that finishing touch.

Children manipulate their puppets to show all sorts of spatial directions: “Poke your Who up, down, out, in" etc. "The Who is between the elephant’s eyes."

Students can also manipulate Horton and place him above their head, behind their back, in their left hand, in their right hand etc.  If you don't want to fuss with the toilet paper roll puppet, you can use Horton for all sorts of writing prompts. 

I've included 22 writing prompt  "trunk" templates. Students' completed projects make an adorable Seuss bulletin board, for March is Reading Month.

Click on the link to view/download The Horton Writing Prompt Puppet.   Horton writing prompts, Horton activities, horton lessons, horton crafts, horton puppets, whoville activities, whoville lessons, whoville crafts, whoville puppets, writing prompts for seuss, seuss writing prompts, writing prompts for March, bulletin boards for seuss, bulletin boards for Horton hears a who, horton bulletin board ideas,

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. 

"Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try!"  -Dr. Seuss