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 Reindeer "Craftivities" With Me

On Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen; you too Rudolph. I wanted to finish up with reindeer-themed activities, by sharing 2 revamped favorites, + 2 new FREEBIES.

If you're looking for an inexpensive and easy treat to give your kiddo's, I think you'll enjoy making a Snack Baggie filled with 8 chocolate reindeer noses + a red gum ball (Rudolph's nose.) 

This is my version from several other Pinterest pins that I've seen.  My poem reads: "9 delicious reindeer noses from me.  Packaged with lots of love and TLC.  They come with happy smiles of joy to say--I hope you have a Merry Christmas Day!"

If you'd like to have your students make this as a gift for their family, have them make a thumb print reindeer and sign it from their little "dear." Click on the link to view/print Chocolate Reindeer Noses. 

Keeping the nose thing going, I also designed The Shape Of My Reindeer's Nose booklet. This is the perfect language arts extension for the reindeer shape sliders from yesterday's post.

Cover a lot of Common Core State Standards as students read, add end punctuation, underline capital letters; trace and write the shape word; trace and write the color word; trace the shape and then draw and color that shaped nose on the reindeer. 

A graphing extension is also included, where students tell which shaped nose they liked the best.   Click on the link to view/download The Shape Of My Reindeer's Nose.

Finally, I revamped "You Can Count On Rudolph" and included trace & write pages.  Students can count  to 20, count backwards from 10 to 0 or 20 to 0, or skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's. and 10's.

I've also included a red-hot cinnamon "reindeer noses" counting activity in this packet as well. Click on the link to view/download the Counting On Rudolph packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by again tomorrow for even more FREEBIES.

"Christmas is like the morning; every year we experience it as new, partly because of the magic of snow and sleighs; night silver light and the silhouette of Dancer against the moon." -Unknown

Seuss-tastic!

Even though I’m celebrating a theme day like Dr. Seuss’ birthday or  doing something special for March is Reading Month like having a Cat in the Hat Day, I still nail all of my report card standards.

I simply design things with that particular theme.  To say I LOVE doing that is an understatement!  There is just not enough time in the day to make all of the ideas, nor was there ever enough time in the day to get in all of the activities I wanted to do with any of the grade levels I taught!

You may have found it difficult to find things to teach those tough 3-D shapes.  Me too, so I designed  Dr. Seuss: The Case Of Cat’s Missing Hat.  Can you imagine what he’d say if we stuck a beach ball sphere hat on his head?

Hopefully your students will giggle at the craziness, as they trace and then write the words, figuring out that the cat’s hat is a cylinder and the March wind blew it away.

I’ve included word and picture cards so students can make an Itty Bitty booklet.  Print off extra copies (words on one color, pictures on another) to make Memory Match games easier to play.

Laminate them for something fun to do when students complete tasks.  Click on the link to view/download Dr. Seuss: The Case Of Cat’s Missing Hat

If you’re looking to make some awesome Dr. Seuss 3-D shapes the Truffula tree has a cylinder trunk and a sphere top.  I would love to visit Mrs. Lodge’s library to see her lovely Truffula trees.

She made them from inexpensive pipe insulation and tissue paper.  Click on the link for her step-by-step directions.  Dr. Seuss Day Truffula trees.

I also made a flat-shape Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss booklet.  I think your little ones will enjoy Cat On A Shape.

Students also trace and write the shape words and then color the shapes.

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

This packet includes a Dr. Seuss hat art extension.  Students design their own Cat in the Hat hat.  Brainstorm with your students what words rhyme with hat and write all of the At Family words on the board.

Students can include them on their hat.  To really make these a keepsake, enlarge their school photo, cut them into ovals and have students glue their hats as if they are tipping them.

Your bulletin board caption:  Tipping Our Hats To Good Readers!  Hats off to you and all of your efforts in helping to make reading extra special and fun during March is Reading Month!

Click on the link to view/download Dr. Seuss: Cat On A Shape packet.

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more fun!

I hope you and yours have a delightful Dr. Seuss Day!

Get In Shape On President's Day!

A quick and easy little booklet your students will have fun making on President’s Day, is The Dollar Shapes Up.

It’s a nice review of the 6 basic shapes.

Students cut out the shapes and glue them to the matching dollar bills.

To make it more of a keepsake, print off a copy of your class composite, cut your student’s pix into ovals and have them glue their photo to the cover of the booklet.

For an interesting discussion and math extension, inform students that President Washington is on the dollar bill as well as the quarter.

Ask them how many quarters does it take to make a dollar, how many pennies, nickels and dimes?

Click on the link to view/download The Dollar Shapes Up booklet.

Be sure and pop back tomorrow for 3 more cute President's Day ideas!

The Shaplies Have Arrived:

A Fun Way To Teach Shapes That Will Excite Your Students!

Teaching shapes by making them look like “happy faces” makes learning about this flat math concept a lot more fun.

That’s why I designed “Shaplies”.  Make a set for your room for an instant dangling decoration to hang from your ceiling for a great review each day!

In their debut appearance in the booklet:  My I See The Shape booklet, students trace the large shape on the left, read and trace the simple sentence and then write the shape word.

On the right hand side of the page, they again read the sentence (this time the shapes are plural), color the shape, count how many are on the page and write that total on the line.

They also trace the dashed lines of the small shape at the bottom and then draw the shape next to it.

You are covering reading, math, and writing; while students reinforce a variety of skills and report card standards in a fun way!

They’ll also enjoy taking this booklet home and sharing it with their families, because they’ll be able to read it by the time they have completed the booklet—a real self-esteem builder!

To top off this reading-math block, students choose their favorite Shaplie and get some practice cutting and gluing, as they assemble an adorable Shaplie Friend dangler.

Send your student detectives on a Shape Hunt and have them make TALLY marks for each of the 6 shapes that they can find in 5 minutes.

When the timer rings help students add their totals and grand total and then graph the results.

To celebrate the birth of the Shaplie Family, click on the link to view/print the circle.

I've also include the circle page from the I See A Shape Booklet.

They're free through the first week of August.

Click on the link to view/print a set of FREE shape posters to hang on the wall or use as extra-large flashcards for shape review.

It's fun getting freebies isn't it? Why not become a subscriber and be able to download everything, anytime, at no additional charge + receive our 50+ Apple Bytes newsletter packet each month.   

August’s packet was a whopping 78 pages! Click on the links to check things out.

Do you have a tip you can share about shapes?  I’d enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com

Remember… sharing or commenting are 2 ways you are able to enter the back-to-school-button bracelet CONTEST!  Click on the link to see the details.

Thanks for participating.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow to see how to make an adorable monthly keepsake booklet!