Celebrating Seuss with Math, Reading, Science, and FREEBIES!

Our featured author this week is Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss). We really need to learn about him, because many of my students thought Dr. Seuss was a cat! :) Gotta love first graders! We will read his books all week.

I bought some Dr. Seuss bags at Target a few years ago. We use these for "Reading Rugs" this week. I fill the bags with several different Seuss books and a hat. Kids take a colorful rug and find a place to practice read-to-self. I made pointers that look like truffula trees by hot gluing pom-poms the end of pencils and wrapping them with pipe cleaners. They love using these to track their words. Reading Rugs are also a fun way to do read-to-someone.

My school has no inside hallways. All of the classroom doors open to the playground. Teachers at my school have always complained about how we cannot decorate our doors because the wind and possible rain will ruin our hard work. We have a new teacher this year and she did not want to listen to all these excuses! She just did it! She inspired others to start decorating and has even helped decorate for other teachers who wanted to participate but did not feel artistic. Our doors are turning out so cute! The school is so cheery and the kids are loving it. I can't help but be reminded of one of my favorite Seuss lines: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Thanks for caring, Ms. Rodriguez!

Here are a few of our finished doors.

One of my favorite activities for this week is making oobleck with the kids. We will save this for Friday and do it as a part of our "Fizzle, Pop Friday" science. I LOVE reading the story Bartholomew and the Oobleck. It is one of my very favorites. Shuffle Duffle Muzzle Muff!

We use this recipe for our oobleck.

1 cup water 1/2 cup white school glue (Elmers works best)
1/2 cup liquid Borax
1 large mixing bowl or disposable container
1 small mixing bowl or disposable container
Spoon for mixing
Newspaper
Green food coloring

Instructions

1 Cover your work space and the floor below it with a layer of newspaper.
2 Pour 1/2 cup water into your large mixing bowl or disposable plastic container. To create the green oobleck similar to the slime featured in Dr. Seuss's book, add a few drops of green food coloring to the water and stir.
3 Add 1/2 cup of white school glue to the water solution and stir until completely mixed.
4 In the small mixing bowl or disposable container, combine 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of liquid Borax and stir until completely mixed.
5 Slowly pour the water and Borax mixture into the glue and water mixture. Stir or knead the mixture until it forms a slippery glob. Remove the oobleck from your container and notice the contrasts from liquid to solid as you move it around in your hand.

I totally recommend using all disposable items when making oobleck. Who has time to stop and clean a bowl when you have just given OOBLECK to 24 six year-olds? COME ON!!!

We have also been doing some Watch, Think, Color activities inspired by the doctor! I love this point in the year because there are SO many games we can use - number sense (1-120), reading number words, place value, ten more/ten less, counting on/counting back, large charts (BIG numbers 101-1,020), and so much more! I love setting up different centers for my kids to work at their own levels and they all end up with the very same picture. SO COOL!

My kids will also do a fun roll and color page to practice their addition facts. This practice page is available in two versions, one uses only one die and reinforces number recognition 1-6. The other uses two dice and reinforces addition facts to 12. Choose the page that is right for your class!

I thought it would also be cute if we made birthday cards for Dr. Seuss. I wanted them to kind of "wrap-up" our author study. Just print the two pages back-to-back. Kids color the front. On the inside, kids can color a balloon for each Seuss book they read and decorate the cover of their favorite Seuss book. Here is the link to print your own Seuss birthday cards.