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

Ever since the movie came out, my students absolutely love the Lorax. He's such a cute little fluff ball, and the inspiration behind my "Shapin' Up With The Lorax" packet.   

This craftivity is quick, easy & super-fun and includes a variety of game options.

There's also an emergent reader, which practices capitalization and end punctuation as it reviews shapes.

I’ve provided 2D shapes (circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, trapezoid, rhombus, heart, star & crescent), as well as the four, 3D ones: cone, cube, cylinder andsphere. 

Make a set to use for a bulletin board display.

Make an extra set; cut them in half, and use as puzzles for an independent math center and an interesting way to review symmetry.

Play 4-Corner FREEZE; a game that practices a variety of life skills, like listening and following directions, as well as the 2D/3D shape vocabulary, plus recognition, and counting backwards from 10 to 0.

My kiddos absolutely LOVE this game. Easy-peasy for me, and only takes a few minutes, so it’s perfect for the end of the day. I’ve included directions in the packet.

You can also use the Lorax shapes as big flashcards. Hold one up. Children call out what shape it is, along with its attributes, like the number of vertices.

Play “Who’s Missing?” Display a set on the wall. After children leave, take one away. In the morning, children guess which one is missing.

I’ve also included a 2-on-a-one-page template, so children can pick their favorite shape and create their own Lorax.

There are 2 mustache options: “I ‘mustache’ you a question. What shape am I?” is written on one, the other is blank.

For a cute keepsake idea, students can use their hand prints as the mustache, and add accordion-folded legs and arms. (Super fine motor practice!)

Have older students write attributes on the back. 

Next up is a Telling Time With The Lorax Game, which practices analog and digital time to the hour.

There are several ways to use the packet.  Make a large Lorax teacher’s clock to use as a whole-group assessment tool. 

You can also have children make their own, mini (4-on-a-page pattern) Lorax clock, to whole group assess in another way.

Ask children to show you 11:00 or whatever time. Sitting at their desk/table, they manipulate their paperclips to display that time.
You walk around the room making sure children have the correct time.

Another option: Instead of using paperclips, children can use a dry erase marker to draw hands on their clock, to show you the time, then erase it with a tissue.

The “clocks” can also be used as spinners to play the “It’s Truffula Tree Time!” game.

To use for a math center activity, laminate the full-size truffula trees, and medium-size spinners, and attach a large paperclip with a brass brad.

Using a dry erase marker, children play with a partner, spinning the paperclip to see what time they will trace on the truffula tree trunk.

The winner of the game, is the first one to fill in all of the times, or who has the most times traced when the timer rings.

So that children practice numbering a clock, I’ve also included mini-blank clocks without numbers. 

When students spin, they not only trace the time on their truffula tree, they also write that number on their mini clock worksheet.

I’ve included 2-on-a page templates of the game, so that you can play this as a whole group activity too. 

Children can play with a partner or in a group of 3-5.  Each student makes their own truffula tree, has their own blank clock, and shares the spinner. 

Today's FREEBIE also features Seuss's Lorax.  It's a super-cute writing prompt. Making a mustache to launch a writing prompt, is an interesting and "Suessical" way of doing things. I think your students will enjoy it.

For an adorable bulletin board, take everyone's photograph wearing their mustache and put it next to their writing.  Your bulletin board title could be the same question you are asking: "We mustache you, would you save a truffula tree?" 

Flank the board on either side, with 2 colorful truffula trees, made out of strips of neon-colored tissue paper, and rolled up green bulletin board paper for the trunk. Stripe it with brightly colored boarder.

Well that's it for today.  I can't believe spring is just around the corner, as it's bitter cold today and the bleak view out my window is still snow covered! 

Wishing you a wonderful week!

"Life is like a mustache.  It can be wonderful or terrible, but it always tickles!" -Unknown

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Lorax and Mustache Activities With Me

I'm clueless, as to why the mustache theme started in the first place, and continues to be so popular.  However, I'm a firm believer in using what's a "hot button" for children to help grab their attention and then engage them in learning.

Since the Lorax sports a wonderful big-yellow fluffy mustache, I designed some activities featuring this colorful creature.  Today's blog features some of my most popular Lorax-themed downloads.

Making a mustache/moustache to launch a writing prompt, is an interesting and "Suessical" way of doing things, that I think your students will enjoy. Make a sample, cover your nose, and ask your students in a deep voice: "I mustache you, would you save a Truffula tree?"  Thus begins the fun writing prompt "craftivity."

While children are working, you can play the "Let It Grow" song from the Lorax movie.  Click the link for the Lorax YouTube song video.

For an adorable bulletin board, take everyone's photograph wearing their mustache and put it next to their writing.   Flank the board on either side with 2 colorful truffula trees.

Mrs. Lodge, a very creative librarian, used PVC pipe to make some beautiful truffula tree trunks. 

You can also make the truffula trunks out of pool noodles and then stripe with colorful Duct tape.  I especially like these green and blue ones that EmBellish made for her 1st grade classsroom.

While you're "truffulling" why not whip together some truffula pencils. 

Writing about saving a truffula tree, with a truffula pencil will certainly add to the fun.

These were made by Jin Yong. Click on the link to get directions over at Under The Cherry Tree Blog.

Since the Silly Shaped Penguins, Owls, and Chicks have been such a huge hit, I designed some featuring the Lorax.    His easily recognizable, bright-orange oval-ish shape and yellow mustache, is perfect for other shapes too.

For an interesting and fun shape review during Seuss Week or March is Reading Month, make a set and use them as anchor charts or big flashcards.

Toss in some math, by graphing everyone's favorite shaped Lorax. Simply hang your Lorax samples in a row on the white board. 

Have students write their  name under the one that they like best, or have students choose their favorite shape and make their own. 

If you want to add a bit of keepsake-value to their shape, have children use their hand prints for the mustache.  Add wiggle eyes, and accordion-folded, construction paper arms and legs. 

Suspend the Lorax shapes back-to-back from the ceiling, or mount them on a bulletin board flanked by truffula trees. Your caption could be: "Reading Really Gets Us In Shape!"

To introduce the emergent reader shape booklet, also in the packet, tell students that the Lorax ate some leaves from the truffula tree and has Truffula-itis, which made him lose his normal shape. 

They can help him return to the real Lorax oval shape, by completing their Shapely Lorax emergent reader, circling the capital letters, adding end punctuation, tracing and writing the shape word, and then tracing and drawing the shapes etc. 

Click on the link to view/print the Lorax Shape Packet.

Finally, I used the Lorax's face to make a clock, and the truffula trees to show digital time.  There are 2 different games in the "It's Truffula Time" packet.

In the first game, students play in groups of 2-4, taking turns spinning the Lorax clock.  Whatever analog time they land on, they trace the digital time on their truffula tree trunk. 

Students can also use the Lorax spinner clock, to write numbers on their mini-clock recording sheet.

For this game, they can substitute dice for a spinner, rolling first 1 die for clock times 1-6, then adding two dice for the rest of the times to the hour.

Run the trufulla tree tops on colored copy paper and have students cut and glue their tree top to their digital answer sheet. Click on the link to view/download the Lorax Truffula Telling Time packet.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Our week of Seuss is almost over, so it's time to start working on some activities for St. Patrick's Day. Wishing you a colorful and creative day.

"I like nonsense.  It wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient to living." -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Play Some Halloween Games With Me

Are you looking for a few quick and fun things to plug in on Halloween?  Something interesting for your kiddos, easy for you, and will still be educationally relevant?  Then I think you'll enjoy my Ready Set Ghost!  Halloween games packet. 

Everything's pretty simple with a lot of variety.  You can review and practice math, counting, letter recognition, end punctuation, capitalization, spelling, sequencing and more.

Here are a few things that I've included in the 28-page packet:

There are all sorts of math dice games that will help review numbers, counting and addition: A very simple one is the coloring puzzles. 

Students choose one of three options; color their paper then cut on the lines making a 6-piece puzzle. 

They pick a partner and take turns rolling a single dice.  Whatever number they roll is the numbered puzzle piece that they glue on their grid. 

Older students can work on addition, with the Race to 100 game.  They too pick a partner and take turns rolling dice. 

Children add the 2 dice together and then X off that many boxes on their 100 chart.  Who will be the first one to get to 100?

Another 100 chart activity is a Halloween hidden picture worksheet.  Students can listen and follow the directions of the teacher, or read the numbers on their worksheet.  A successfully completed paper, will reveal a Jack-O-Lantern.

Have you made a list of all sorts of fall words for your word wall?  The "I mustache you to unscramble the words" worksheet, will help students practice them. 

Give children a minute or two to try and figure out as many as they can.  Did anyone get all 22?  There's an answer key to save you time. 

I've also included another mustachioed ghost worksheet, which asks students to add end punctuation to however many Halloween-themed sentences that you want them to work on.

Students can work on more vocabulary skill building, by challenging them to use the letters in pumpkin, to see how many new words they can create.  I've included my list of 20.

Younger students can spin and spell Happy Halloween! There are two spinners to choose from, a recording sheet and a colorful answer key poster to help little ones know where to put the letters.

Even preschool children can work on addition skills with the candy corn counting game. There are several math mat options, including one that the children color. 

Students can work independently or choose a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  Each child gets 13 pieces of candy corn.  (Pre count them and put in Dixie cups). 

Children can eat one, then use the rest as manipulatives to put on their candy corn counting mat, making groups of whatever numbers they roll.  I've also included a recording sheet (2 on a page) where students can "show" their work.

If you want to practice letter recognition, play upper or lowercase "I Spy" .  You can reuse the worksheets as many as 5 times, depending on how you have students record their findings. (Trace the letter, trace the circle,  color, X-off, bingo dot etc.)

Finally, just for fun, I've included a Halloween version of "Trick" Tac Toe. There are six manipulatives children can choose to play with, plus a set of black line tokens they can color.

Click on the link to view/download the Halloween game packet: Ready, Set, Ghost!

Well that's it for today.  I hope you found something useful that will make Halloween less stressful for you, and more fun for your students. 

I'm off to change the light bulb on the front porch.  Since I'm ready for those sweet trick or treaters, I better have the lights on.  Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween.

"I love the childhood memories of Halloween, the excitement and energy that comes with it. Even the air feels different on Halloween; festive, fresh and crisp."  

10 pages.

This packet is perfect for a daily or weekly table top lesson, math center, something for early finishers to do, nice for a sub folder activity, or great practice for a take home worksheet.

15 pages. Common Core State Standards:L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.1.1a, K.G.2 The packet includes an emergent reader shape booklet, featuring 2D shapes; plus large Lorax shaped creatures to use as anchor charts or a craftivity with your students.

1-2-3 Come Tell Time With Me!

The mustache mania continues here at TeachWithMe.com

I thought it would be fun to make a mustache telling time game; it's entitled: "I Mustache You What Time Is It?"

This packet includes recording sheets, a mustache clock spinner + a telling time matching worksheet, which you can use as an assessment for time to the hour.

Click on the link to view/download the Mustache Telling Time Game packet.

If you're looking for more mustache activities, simply click on the link to zoom to that section of my site.

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

"A good teacher has been defined as one who makes themselves progressively unnecessary." -Thomas J. Carruthers

1-2-3 Do Still More Mustache Lessons With Me!

I often turned my Y5's into detectives, so that they could scamper around with their clipboards and collect data.  They absolutely LOVED this.

Since data collection and analysis are common core standards, I decided to make up an investigation lesson using the "I mustache you a question" concept.

Run off the templates, and explain to students that they can think up any yes or no question and then interview their classmates for 5 or 10 minutes.  Set a timer.

We did graphing every day as a whole group and center activity, so I knew my Y5's would be able to take the data they had collected,  and in-put it into their own graph.

Model the activity, by asking a question, making tally marks, and filling in the various forms, and then turn your students loose.  I know they will enjoy themselves.

When everyone has completed their data collection and analysis sheets, call them together as a whole group, to review their findings. 

If you want to extend the lesson, you could make a total-classroom graph for yes answers versus no answers.

Click on the link to view/download the Mustache Data Collection packet.

When I was dreaming up "mustache stuff" I thought making a mustache game, that would review colors and color words, would be fun.

You can use the templates for a puzzle center; individual worksheets that students, color, cut & glue, or for a spinner game.

Click on the link to view/download the Mustache Color game.

Finally, I designed a mustache template for upper and lowercase letters, numbers and number words, as well as shapes and shape words. 

The collection of cards makes a nice wall decoration, or cut them apart and use them as puzzles, or to play Memory Mustache Match and "I Have; Who Has?" games.

Click on the link to view/download the Mustache Alphabet, Number and Shape packet.

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

I hope you and your students have as "mustache" fun as I did designing these things.

"Too often we give children answers to remember, rather than problems to solve." -Roger Lewin

1-2-3 Come Do More Mustache Activities With Me!

I wanted to design some mustache items that teachers could use as incentives, decorations, and labels, so I put together a mustache "Stache" Of Stuff packet.

Here you'll find bookmarks, templates to make a mustache for your students, labels for their files or folders, etc.

I was watching my 6-month-old grandson, so I took a picture of him with the mustache. He wanted to eat it, but you get the idea.

Click on the link to view/download this mustache packet.

I also designed 3 "I mustache you to please raise your hand" reminder posters.

Question of the Day of course is perfect for the "I mustache you a question" phrase.

Print off the template, laminate and attach to a metal door or cookie sheet. Print off your students' school picture, add a mustache to their face, laminate, cut out and put a magnet on the back.

Using a dry erase marker, write a new question each day. Students answer the question by sticking their photo under the yes or no section of the poster.

Click on the link to view/downloas the Question of the Day mustache poster.

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

If you'd like to see a few more mustache activities, I have one more post for today.  Simply scroll down to read it.

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning; but for children, play IS serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." -Mr. Fred Rogers

1-2-3 I Mustache You To Please Measure Stuff With Me!

I've had quite a few requests for measurement activities that will help review Common Core State Standards: K.MD.1, K.MD.2, 1.MD.1, 1.MD.2.

I thought it would be extra fun for your students to become a detective, don a mustache and scamper around the room figuring out the length, width, height etc. of a variety of things.

Simply run off the mustache ruler template on a variety of colored construction paper.

For ease of printing, I've included 2 on a page. Make sure you measure the ruler after you print it. 

I made it to scale, but sometimes when printers read a scanned PDF they print it a bit smaller. Simply enlarge it a tad on your copier, so that it is exactly 10 inches.

Students trim their "stache" and do one of the measuring worksheets that you've run off.

There are 10 different measuring activities to choose from.

Several of the worksheets ask students to find and measure things, others ask them to measure their mustache with "stuff," like paperclips, unifix cubes, their thumb, etc.

I've also included a cut and glue longer or shorter comparison activity.

Students measure the objects shown on their paper and then decide if they are longer or shorter than their mustache. 

They then cut and glue the representative picture to the appropriate side of their graph.

There are also 2 "measure the animal" worksheets.  One is Tatum the turtle, the other Alfred the alligator.

Click on the link to view/download the I Mustache You To Measure packet.

I hope these activities measure up, and that you'll enjoy doing them as much as I did designing them.

Do you have a measurement or mustache activity you could share with us?  I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment below.

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

"America's future walks through the doors of our school each day." -Mary Jean Le Tendre

1-2-3 Come Do Mustache Activities With Me!

As promised, here are some fun mustache things to do with your kiddo's.

I just love the phrase, "I mustache you a question." I think it's a cute way to introduce question activities to children.

I don't know about your students, but my Y5's had a difficult time understanding question statements, versus telling statements. 

Whenever a visitor would say: "Does anyone have a question?" I'd cringe, because I knew the majority of waving hands couldn't wait to share something, instead of ask something.

To help them understand the concept, I made a list of question words.  I told them, that if their sentence didn't start with one of those words, then it wasn't an "asking" sentence, and they were NOT asking a question.

I made an entire activity mustache packet based around the question words. 

The packet includes:

4 I "Mustache" you a question posters.

20 question word mustache cards.

A blank set of mustache templates for you to program with whatever.

20 traceable question word cards with covers to make Itty Bitty booklets

A "My Stache" dictionary cover for question words

A question-word, alphabetical-order worksheet + a certificate of praise.

Click on the link to view/download the I Mustache You A Question activity packet.

Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN anything that you think others might find useful.

i like to keep my blog articles short, so if you'd like to see a few more mustache ideas, simply scroll down to read the other mustache posts today.

"Kissing a man without a mustache, is like eating an egg without salt." -Unknown