1-2-3 Come Do Some Dr. Seuss Activities With Me    

 Seuss is on the loose and I'm celebrating with some super-fun Seuss-themed activities. Today's blog features some of my favorite ways to practice standards using a Seuss hat.

First up, word families. The "Stackin' Up Word Families With A Seuss Hat" packet includes 39 word families! Not surprisingly, a lot of these words appear in Dr. Seuss’s stories!

Simply choose the word families that your students are working on.  

Use them for a bulletin board display, your word wall, centers, games, assessing and worksheets! 

Next up are the "Flipping Over 2D and 3D Shapes!" emergent reader booklets.   

Students read the simple sentences, underline the capital letters and add end punctuation.

They trace and write shape words, then trace, color and draw the various shapes.

Gluing the top square to their cat’s hat, then snipping on the lines, creates a "flip the flap" booklet.

I really think it’s important for students to not only be able to identify the various shapes, but pick them out in real life and give examples. 

With that in mind, I designed both booklets with graphics of real life things.

When everyone is done, read the booklets together as a whole group, to reinforce concepts of print.

I specifically used lots of Dolch word pronouns for more teachable moments. I’ve also included a graphing extension.

Finally, I created some Seuss-hat, telling analog & digital time to the hour and half hour activities for the "It's Time For Seuss!" packet.

There are dice games, worksheets, an anchor chart, cat clock craftivity, clothespin clip game, sequencing time "Speed" game, pocket chart digital & analog time cards to the hour and half hour, an Itty Bitty Time booklet, praise certificates and an assessment!    

The featured FREEBIE today is a Seuss hat writing prompt with a "Seussism" quote poster. 

Use the poster to introduce the lesson, then display it in the center of your bulletin board display, surrounded by your students' completed hats. 

Simply run off the template. Students write the things that they enjoyed doing the most during their day at school, writing something on each stripe of the cat's hat.

They write their name in the oval on the bottom.  Add a school photo for that finishing touch.

Since a lot of teachers decorate with Seuss for back-to-school,  I’ve also included a template for that special first day.  

Well that's it for today. Time to get busy with Horton and Green Eggs & Ham stuff!  

Wishing you a non-crazy, carefree day!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Do Some Cat in the Hat Craftivities With Me 

Seuss's birthday is on March 2nd, so my school kicks off our March is Reading Month with a super-fun Cat in the Hat Day. 

With that in mind, I designed a plethora of Seuss hat-themed activities.  Here are 3 of my kiddos' all-time favorites.  

First up  is a place value  “Cat in the Hat” game. I print and laminate a class set so that we can play a whole-group place value game.

Students take turns calling out a 2 or 3-digit number.  Using a dry erase marker, students write the number on the hat brim and then place that many number tiles in the appropriate columns.

This is also a quick and simple way to whole-group assess. When students have filled in their mat, they raise their hand. You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

The hat and number tiles come in a large, full-page size, as well as a smaller, 2-on-a-page pattern to conserve paper.

I’ve also included a 3D “Cat in the Hat” place value craftivity, that makes an interesting manipulative for an independent center, assessing, or playing a game with a partner.    

Next up is a quick, easy and super-fun, Cat's Hat AT Word Family packet, filled with a variety of interesting activities to help practice the at family of words.

The packet includes:

* An at word family poster.
* A “My Cat Pat” emergent reader flip booklet with a full-color teacher’s edition.
* A set of “Pat the Cat” pocket chart cards

*An at family, “Cat in the Hat” slider craftivity, featuring 16 words.
*4 worksheets.

* A “My Itty Bitty Book Of at Family Words” booklet.

* Picture and word cards to use as an independent center.

* You can also use the cards for a Memory Match or “I Have; Who Has?” game. 
* I've also included black and white “Trace, Write & Color” puzzle cards, with a matching set in full color for a center activity. 

Finally, the next cat hat craftivity is very versatile, as the "Classmate Hat" can be used as a game, independent center, whole group activity, bulletin board, writing prompt or reading log.

There are "brim" options for preschool to 2nd grade, as well as several generic ones to fit whatever.

Besides the “Alphabetize Your Classmates” game, the packet also includes a mini cat hat craftivity, with a variety of brim options for that too.

Students choose to put their hat on a cat pattern, an enlarged photo of themselves, or they can pick a head pattern and draw a face on it.

I’ve included 9 faceless head templates they can pick from, as I find this helps little ones with size, however you can always opt to have children draw their own.

Students color, trim and glue their hat on top of their head.  Completed projects make an adorable bulletin board.

I've included a worksheet for alphabetizing practice, plus a "Speed" game challenge, recording sheet.

Since the hat templates are blank, you can also have students write a list of their favorite Seuss books. Older students can put their list in alphabetical order.

Another idea is to “Stack a Hat” using the stripes as a reading log to jot down each book they read during March is Reading Month or the number of pages they’ve read each week.

You can also use the blank hat for a writing prompt of your choice, or have students list the reasons why they like to read, or specifically why they enjoy reading Dr. Seuss books. 

Patterns come on a full-page, as well as a smaller, 2-on-a-page size, to save on paper. 

The FREEBIE today also features Seuss. It's a set of silly Dr. Seuss songs that I made up.  I hope you find them useful. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  As much as I've up-dated, tweaked and designed, I still have a huge "to do" pile sitting on my desk. 

So I'm certainly happy that March has 31 days in it, providing more time to cram in some extra-fun spring themes.  Wishing you a sunshine-filled day.

"The beautiful spring came; and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also." -Harriet Ann Jacobs

 1-2-3 Come Do Another Cat in the Hat Activity With Me

Just when I thought I was done designing Seuss "stuff" 'til next year, I'm back at it.  (Part of my "obseuss-ion" with this author?) Actually, it's all Paula's fault. (I say this with a big smile on my face, as I LOVE helping others.)

She's from Florida and asked if I had any March-themed activities to help practice alphabetizing.  She's working on that with her kinders, who are quite bored with the standard.

Since they were already "not interested", I certainly didn't want to make another "same-old" worksheet. 

What could I design that would be a hands-on kind of game that they'd find interesting?

One thing led to another and the result was The Cat in the Classmate Hat packet.

Paula LOVED it! I hope you can use it too. There are two main alphabetizing activities.

The large cat hat can be used as a game, independent center or whole group activity.

Print the stripe template off on red and white construction paper, so that you have enough stripes for however many students you have.  Laminate the paper and then trim.  

Make an alphabetical list of your students' names, so that when you pass out a strip to each child it will be the appropriate color. 

Then later, when you arrange their names in alphabetical order, they will show the correct ABAB color pattern like Seuss's hat. 

Children write their name on the strip.  For extra pizzazz, have them glue their photo next to their name.  Collect the strips and keep them in a Ziplock Baggie.

To play as a whole group game, or independent center, children arrange their classmates' names in alphabetical order on a brim of their choice:  "1-2-3 Come ABC with me!" , "__________'s students really stack up!", "Hats off to wonderful word work! We know how to alphabetize.", and "The alphabet begins with ABC. Numbers begin with 1-2-3. Music begins with do-re-mi and friendship begins with you and me."

You can demonstrate  what you want children to do, by first playing this as a whole group activity, explaining rules for alphabetizing along the way. 

I've included a recording sheet if your students choose to take the "Speed" challenge, to see who can assemble the hat in correct alphabetical order the quickest.

Make an extra set to hang up as a bulletin board or hallway wall display. There are 9 "brim" options for you to choose from. 

The packet also includes a mini cat hat activity for your students, along with a worksheet to help them alphabetize their classmates' names.

They can choose to put their hat on a cat template, a photo of themselves, or pick a head pattern and draw a face on it.

There are 9 faceless head templates they can pick from. Children color, trim and glue their hat on top.  

These completed projects also make an adorable bulletin board.  Click on the link for the Cat in the Classmate Hat packet. 

Thanks for visiting.  As usual, my day is flying by me. I have got to put my adult hat on, and get to the grocery store, so I can wear my chef hat and dream something up for dinner. 

It's dreary and cold, and I'd much rather snuggle in and play.... Wishing you a wonderful week.

 "Today was good; today was fun; tomorrow is another one!" -Dr. Seuss

60 pages!

This packet is extremely versatile.  You can do these as a whole group activity, as an independent center, for a bulletin board, for a class-made book (each student contributes a letter) or have each child do all of the letter booklets and keep them in a "portfolio" file folder.

1-2-3 Come Do "Sum" Seuss Math Activities With Me

I'm sure most of us use Dr. Seuss for lots of reading and writing activities, but you can also toss in some math as well.  Here's how...

"I see, he sees, we see, she sees, they see, everyone sees the number ___________." Says the Cat in the Hat. Try saying that tongue-twisting, pronoun-filled sentence fast!  It's an interesting way to introduce this quick, easy and fun Seuss-hat worksheet, which covers a variety of math standards.

Teachers can choose a number, give students a choice or make it a game, and have children roll dice to figure out what number they will use to fill out their worksheet. To create higher numbers for older students, add more dice.

You can also toss the Cat in the Hat number cards into a Seuss hat or other container,  and have children pick one. (The numbers go from 0-120!)

Interest remains high, even though you can use the worksheet for an entire week or all of March, because the number changes daily. 

Students look forward to working on their Cat Hat Math Mat, because they know what to do, which empowers them. 

They can get right down to business, without waiting for directions, which is a real time saver for teachers too.

I've provided a large template to use to explain and demonstrate what you want your kiddos to do, as well as a large completed sample that you can laminate & hang up as an anchor chart poster, to help remind young children of the directions.

For students, there's a smaller version, with two-on-a-page, to conserve paper. 

The beauty of this worksheet, is that you can use it for any number.  Younger students can work on numbers less than 10, older students can work with two and three-digit numbers. The worksheet is also an easy way to whole-group assess.

Laminate several templates and set them up as an independent math center.  Students use dry erase markers to fill in the number of the day. 

The Cat Hat Math Mat packet also includes a helpful Cat in the Hat bookmark with math symbols.

 I've also designed another Cat's hat math worksheet for younger children.  Here, students trace and write the numbers and number words.

They X-off that many boxes in the 10 frame, count and color the correct amount of dots in the group/set, circle the number in the sequence, then tally that many marks. 

For more practice, have students write one or two sentences on the back of their worksheet, using that number. 

The packet includes a completed hat to help explain things, then hang up as an anchor chart, so kiddos can refer to it.  Click on the link for the Cat in the Hat Number Sense packet. 

To see this past-week's Seuss-themed blog articles, simply scroll down.  If you'd like to take a look at all of the Dr. Seuss FREEBIES on my site, click on the link to pop on over to that section.  I also have an entire board of Seuss ideas, and free activities on my Pinterest board. 

Thanks for visiting.  I can't believe it's March 1st today! Did the new month sort of sneak up on you too? 

Even though I'm happy to see the record-breaking-cold February gone, I still have lots of Seuss-themed activities on my "To Do" list. 

Hopefully, there are other teachers and homeschoolers that celebrate Seuss for the entire month, or at least a week, as I'll be posting a few more goodies!

 "Don't give up.  I believe in you all.  A person's a person no matter how small!"  -Dr. Seuss  from Horton Hears A Who

9 pages.

Practice 2D, as well as 3D shapes, with these two "Shaping Up With Seuss" & "Flipping Over Shapes" emergent reader flip booklets. 

 1-2-3 Come Play Some Word Family Games With Me

Practice reading word family words in a super-fun way, with these Cat in the Hat Word Family Games.  The packet includes 39 word families.

Simply choose the word families that your students are working on.  Print the template page twice; once on red construction paper, the other on white. 

This way, after cutting the strips apart, you will be able to make two word family hats with an ABAB color pattern.

Laminate and trim one set, to use for an independent center, partner game, or whole group activity.  Students "stack their hat" puzzle piece "stripes" in alphabetical order on top of the "I can read these ____ word family words!" hat brim.

Glue the other set on a sheet of turquoise construction paper and put up as a display by your word wall, or a separate Cat in the Hat Word Family bulletin board.

To practice the word wall hat display, toss the word family mini cards into a Cat in the Hat hat, or other container.  (There are 39 of them.)  Children pick one. 

Whatever word family they get, is the one that they will read on the display.  Make it more fun by turning off the lights. 

Children can point to each word stripe with a flashlight, as they read the words in the dark.

The mini cards can also be used to tell students what word family they will use to complete their hat stack word family worksheet. 

Children write the words on a sheet of scratch paper, then write them in alphabetical order on their hat. 

Afterwards, they color the stripes with a red crayon, so that the hat shows the Seuss ABAB striped pattern.

You can also partner students up and give them both the same word family puzzle.  They compete against each other to see who can alphabetize and put their hat stack together first. 

They could also partner up with a person who has a different puzzle and take turns reading their puzzle to each other.  Afterwards, they can mix up the pieces and then swap.

You could also use the worksheet as a spelling quiz for whatever word family you're working on.  Say the word, then children write it on their worksheet. 

Well that's it for now.  Thanks for visiting.  My day certainly blew by me, as it took "forever" to get this 79-page packet done, and I'm chomping at the bit to get a few more things accomplished before lights out. 

Don't think that's happenin' though, as my bones are starting to yell "Enough!"  Wishing you a happy-go-lucky day. 

"Today was good; today was fun; tomorrow is another one!" -Dr. Seuss

  1-2-3 Come Do Some Super-Fun Cat in the Hat Activities With Me

Since the Grinch Game in yesterday's blog, was such a huge hit, I decided to make one featuring Seuss's Cat in the Hat. "Feeding" cards to the Cat in the Hat, is a quick, easy and fun way to review all sorts of standards.  Simply print, laminate and trim the "food" cards. 

These are mini cards that include upper and lowercase letters, numbers from 0-120, 11 number word cards, twelve 2D shape cards, twelve 3D shape cards, 35 contraction cards, 20 at family word cards, and 11 color word cards!

I chose bright neon-colors, for that extra touch of Seuss-pizzazz. There's also a set of blank tiles for you to fill in with whatever else you want to review or practice. 

I bought my red bucket from The Dollar Store, printed the cat off on card stock, then taped it to the inside. Easy Peasy. 

I've included 4 little signs that you can use to decorate your container with, or sprinkle on a bulletin board.

Keep each set of "food" cards in Snack Baggies and store them in your container.

To play, simply pass out whatever cards you want to practice with, then call out a word, letter, number etc. 

The child holding that card comes up, reads and shows it, so everyone can repeat what they said. That student then "feeds" the hungry Cat in the Hat.

Besides "feeding" the Cat in the Hat, make extra sets of the cards to play all sorts of games.  I've included tip lists suggesting more activities, plus the "Kaboom!" game.

There's also a set of math symbols as well, so you can use the number cards for other math activities, like making up equations and solving them, plus showing greater & less than. 

Students can also sort the number cards into odd and even piles and sequence them. Play Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games with the number word cards and their matching number cards.

The shape cards, as well as the color cards, work in the same way.  You can also play these games with the letter cards, matching an uppercase letter to a lowercase one.

I've included an at word family worksheet in the packet at well. 

After you're done playing, reward your kiddos with a Seuss bookmark. 

There are 14 different designs in the packet.  Eight of them feature favorite Seuss quotes.

For more Cat in the Hat fun, click on the link for 14 sweet Seuss-themed puzzles. 

They will help your students sequence numbers, count forwards and backwards, plus skip count by 10s to 100. 

I also designed a set of larger Cat in the Hat number cards with numbers 0-120.

Use them for different games, or add them to your "Feed the Cat in the Hat" review game.

There's a bigger set of alphabet cards as well.  There's a separate set for uppercase and lowercase letters, then a set where both the upper & lowercase letter appears on one card, making them "purr-fect" for all sorts of Memory Match or "I Have, Who Has?" games.  

If you'd like to see more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES, click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site.  I also have a Pinterest pin board of more Seuss ideas and free activities. 

Thanks for visiting.   Since winter is bitterly clinging to February,  I wish everyone a safe and snuggly day. 

"Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind, don't matter and those who matter, don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Seuss Hat Activities With Me

Dr. Seuss's iconic hat that he created for his Cat in the Hat character, is the perfect vehicle to make some quick, easy and fun activities that help practice a variety of standards.  Today's blog features some popular Seuss-hat downloads, as well as "Rhyme Time", which I just finished creating today!

Teachers assign a word, or give students a choice.  Children write the word on the brim of their Seuss hat and then think of as many words as they can that rhyme. They jot them down on a sheet of scratch paper, then write the rhyming words in aphabetical order on their hat. 

As is often the case with Seuss, have students dream up one nonsense word, which they define on the back of their bookmark.  Completed projects make a sweet Read Across America bulletin board. Caption: "Hats Off to Wonderful Word Work!" or "Rhyme Time With the Cat in the Hat."

I do this Cat Hat Place Value Mat  activity, as a whole group. Students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns. 

This is a quick, easy and fun way to practice, as well as whole group assess place value.  

Another way to practice place value is with this Cat in the Hat place value game.

The 3 red rings show the 1s, 10s, and 100s columns.  Children "spin" them to make whatever 3-digit number is called out. 

Are your kiddos learning to identify coins?  Then I think they'll enjoy this "Cent-sational" Seuss hat craftivity, which reviews the penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half dollar coins.    

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick game, which includes a variety of ways to play. 

Students choose a  "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations that make that number on their Seuss-hat mat.  (Reinforce addition OR subtraction, or combine both).

This is an easy and fun way to practice and whole group assess a variety of concepts, including fact families. I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers. 

Time to the hour was another math standard that we practiced via Seuss's hat.  Students 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.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT slider, was my 1st hat "craftivity", which was made years ago before I had all of the graphic programs I now use, but it's still a popular download. The packet includes a variety of worksheets too.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.  

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket chart cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the Cat in the Hat story.  This can be done independently, or as a whole group activity. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket chart cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation. 

They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving a space, so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes. I made up 108 sentence choices, from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories, so  each students' hat will be different.  Completed projects make a nice bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  If you're looking for more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES click on the link to pop on over to that section of TeachWithMe.  I also have an entire board of Seuss-themed activities on Pinterest, with lots more ideas and freebies.   

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Cat In The Hat Activities With Me

I love the hat that Dr. Seuss created for his cat.  It's the perfect vehicle for all sorts of interesting activities.  I've designed a few more for today's article that cover a variety of standards.  I hope you enjoy them. 

I've had a few requests for more place value items, so I designed the Cat Hat Place Value Mat activity.  After running off the hat template, you can make it more durable and add some red to the hat,  by gluing it on a sheet of red construction paper, then trim and laminate.

Run off the number tiles on Seuss colors like red, yellow and turquoise.  Each number needs its own color.  Laminate and trim. 

I would do this as a whole group activity, so every student needs 10 of each of the 3 kinds of number tiles.   Store the set of 30 tiles in a Ziplock snack Baggie and make a class set.  By having 10 of each in the Baggie, you’ll have extras incase students lose one.

Have students take turns calling out 3-digit numbers.  Using a dry erase marker, children write that number on the hat brim and then put the correct number of tiles in the appropriate columns.  This is a quick, easy and fun way to whole group assess.

The packet also includes a certificate of praise.  Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat Place Value Mat

For more math fun with the cat's hat, I designed a How many ways can you show a number, Popsicle stick activity.  There are several ways to use the Seuss Hat for different number games. 

Students can put the "How many ways can I show the number ______." hat brim strip, on their hat and then place all of the Popsicle stick equations, that make that number, on their Seuss hat.

Children place the Popsicle sticks on the hat in such a way, that they look like an ABAB striped pattern.

Students can show addition and subtraction as pictured, or to expedite things, just addition OR subtraction equations.

This is an easy and fun way to whole group assess a variety of concepts. 

I've included number tiles from 0-120 with a blank sheet for you to program with even higher numbers.  I've also included pages so students can work on fact families.

Besides using the hat for math, I made a few hat activities for language arts.  The Cat Hat AT family slider, is a fun way for students to see the various AT family words that they can make by pulling on the "slider."   Click on the link to view/download the Cat Hat AT slider craftivity.

I will read... is a hat bookmark that can be used as a writing prompt.  Share my example with your students and challenge them to write verses of their own. 

I've alluded to a variety of Seuss books in my poem. "I will read with Mr. Brown; I will read upside down.  I will read with duck feet; I will read because it's neat."

Challenge your students to figure out which books I've used.   Click on the link to view/download the I Can Read Dr. Seuss bookmark-writing prompt.

After reading The Cat in the Hat, review story elements with this Cat in the Hat language arts packet.

The packet includes pocket cards, a beginning-middle-end graphic organzizer, plus sentence strips to sequence the story. 

Students arrange the sentences in the correct order and glue them to their hat. 

Click on the link to view/download the Cat in the Hat story elements packet. 

Finally, because the punctuation pocket cards have been so popular, I decided to tweak this idea, and make the "cards" into stripes for the cat's hat. 

Run off the cat hat template on red construction paper. 

Run off the sentence strips on white copy paper.   Students underline the letters that need to be capitalized and add punctuation.  They cut their stripes and glue them to their hat in an ABAB pattern, leaving room so that the hat will look like it has alternating red and white stripes. 

If you want, have students re-write the corrected sentences on the red stripes.  So that each students' hat could be different, I made up 108 sentences from a variety of Dr. Seuss stories. 

Completed projects make a nice bulletin board.  A caption could be: "Hammer, slammer, whammer; ___________'s class really knows their grammar!"  Click on the link to view/download the Cat's Hat Grammar "craftivity" packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  To view more Seuss activities, scroll down for other articles and more Dr. Seuss FREEBIES.

"I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells." -Dr. Seuss