Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

I love March! There are so many cool things that we do in the classroom but one of the most fun is starting the month off with Dr. Seuss.  It's a great time to introduce rhyming words if you have not done so already.  If you have introduced them then it is a great time to reinforce the concept.  Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd and a great opportunity to pay tribute to this man who added so much fun to children's literature.

I hope you are enjoying all of the books that Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote under the pen names Dr. Seuss and Theo LeSieg?  Today I'm adding some links that I think you'll enjoy.  Have fun with Dr. Seuss.


Ten Apples Up On Top Activity

15 Seuss Books with activities (not all are appropriate for pre-k so be selective and think of the abilities of the children in your care).

I like this idea for making Seuss hat patterns from TeachPreschool, it's simple to prepare and will inspire some creativity.

If you have computers in your classroom and are able to connect to the internet then here is a link to online Seuss games from apples4theteacher.com that will keep children occupied and learning.

One of my favorite books is Green Eggs and Ham.  Every year my class makes green eggs and ham on or around Seuss' birthday.  It is a lot of fun and they find out that they do, they like them, Sam I Am.  Here are some other activites you can do with this story.

Well, that's just a few ideas to to get you started.  You don't need to wait for his birthday to celebrate Seuss' great books.  I think year round is the appropriate time to celebrate these awesome, imaginative and fun books!

My Tooth Book (Dental Health)

Here is an easy project to do with your class. Make a tooth book.  I googled tooth images and found one that I liked for the front of my book.  I popped it into power point, made it the size I wanted and then added the title of our book.  Each subsequent page has a sentence at the bottom which describes what the child was asked to draw. 

Prior to letting the children work on the book make sure that you have talked about whatever concept is on each page.  A child might have a hard time drawing foods that are good for their teeth if you have not had a discussion, read books, had a visiting dentist etc...

I always write the words for whatever the child has drawn. This helps Mom and Dad when they don't recognize whatever the object is and it also is one more way to expose the children to print.  They know what their picture is, so they can tell Mom what the word is too.

The little boy who drew this picture made me smile when we were doing some egg experiements (another post soon) and I showed them how soda and coffee can discolor teeth.  I asked the children what color teeth they wanted and most said white but this little boy said "gold".  I told him we need to work on the white ones first.  Anyway, I think his picture reveals a quest for gold teeth. He's quite an artist.

We talked about the items we can use to take care of our teeth and I showed them little flossers. I loved all the floss depictions after that.

And the last page is a storytelling/imagination question.

I love writing down stories the children tell.  This little girl has such an awesome imagination.  She has an answer for everything and it is always entertaining. 

So, there you have it.  An easy book that you can make using whatever questions or ideas you want.  The children love working on the books and parents get a good idea of what the children learned this week.

I hope you have fun making books in your classroom.