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

Do you read “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”  by Dr. Seuss? It’s one of my all-time favorite Seuss stories.

“Oh the Places You’ll Go” is not only perfect for March is Reading Month, Read Across America, or a Celebration of Seuss Week. but the story is also appropriate at the end of the year, when students are advancing into a new grade or graduating!

With that in mind, I decided to combine reading and writing with a bit of geography, with this super-fun “Oh, the Places I’LL Go!” craftivity.

Children think of a place they’d like to travel to. Money is no object, so the world is literally at their feet.

Older students can do a bit of research to find out about a fascinating place they’d like to travel to. (Thus the geography connection, as well as great research & technology practice!)

The cover of this “flip-the-flap” hat, comes with the question words: Who? What? Why? When? Where & How? written on the stripes, which when flipped over, reveal the student’s answers.

For example, “Where would you like to travel to?”, "When would you like to go?", "Why do you want to go there?", "Who do you want to go with?", "What do you want to see?" and "How do you want to get there?"

The craftivity provides an interesting way to practice & reinforce the “5 Ws + 1 H” question words in a fun way.

I’ve included a poster, with the entire questions that you can use to introduce your lesson.

As always, patterns come in both black & white for students, as well as color, so that teachers can quickly & easily make an example to share.

There are also blank patterns, so that older students can write in their own words and title.

Completed projects make a terrific bulletin board or hallway display.

I’ve included a variety of posters that you can sprinkle among your students creations.

I rewrote a few of the story's most popular quotations in first person to match the "Oh,the Places I'LL Go!" writing prompt title, and put them inside speech bubbles, as if your students are saying them.

Besides the quote posters, there are two others featuring students reading their way to wonderful places.

I had a lot of fun designing background papers using the color scheme from the cover of the "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" book.

I thought maybe teachers would like to use them for their own personal creations, so I've included those as well.

I also designed a set of letters which spell out the caption: “Oh, the Places We’ll Go!” to add some extra pizzazz.

Simply print, laminate & trim; then hang above your display. 

To add a bit of a "geography look", I created several globes, which can be substituted for the capital and lowercase letter O.

You can leave the hat “as is” or have students glue their completed craftivity to the suitcase pattern.

A luggage tag for a student’s name, adds some 3D pop, when the top portion is glued to the handle of the suitcase, then bent up.

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a Seuss theme featuring the Grinch. 

Celebrate Seuss with these two rhyming & writing, Grinch-themed "craftivities". One features two writing prompts. 

Students think of things that make them grin like the Grinch,  jotting these down on the left side.  On the right side, they list things that make them "grinchly and grumpy".  

The other craft is a "doorknobber".  On the front, students glue their photo face over the Grinch's, after they color it.  On the back, they list all of the words that they can think of that rhyme with whatever word you assign.  I chose Grinch and Seuss. 

Samples of both are included, so you can easily show examples to your students to help explain what you want them to do.

 Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

The sun is shining, which makes the cold and windy weather almost bearable. 

Wishing you a wonderful week.

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." - Henry Ford

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