5-Day: Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
March 2nd is National Read Across America Day, a day to celebrate our favorite activity. The day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss. So, what better way to celebrate the joy of reading than with a week long celebration reading some of his famous tales?
Our goal is to get our children interested in reading. Why? Because reading takes us to exciting new places. When we read, we can be detectives, explorers, and heroes. Reading adds excitement to our lives! Reading also makes us smarter. Did you know that reading actually increases your brain power? It’s true! And, of course, as Dr. Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Reading is also relaxing. Even reading for just six minutes can reduce stress, according to research. So, naturally, we ran with the opportunity to instill the love of reading into your little ones.
On Monday, we read Fox in Socks. We wore fun socks to school and spent the morning with our shoes off. We began our "Cat in the Hat directed drawings". They enjoyed working on these and we are always very impressed with how great they turn out. Melissa from Puddlestompers was also here to teach us all about bunnies.
On Tuesday, we read The Cat in the Hat, as we wore fun hats of our own. Cowboy hats, mariachi hats, a witch's hat and more. Hats made with stickers, bandaids, nets and ribbon galore. We played with red, white and black toys. The children also used unconventional tools to paint with red and white paint on black paper.
On Wednesday, we read Wacky Wednesday and things got really wacky. It all started with a shoe on the wall. A shoe on the wall shouldn’t be there at all. We dressed in the wackiest ways. From backwards shirts to underpants on our heads. Things were wacky in our classroom, too. The chairs were on top of the table and the kids colored under the table instead. There were forks and spoons to paint with at the easel, the clock was upside down, there was toilet paper in the paper towel dispenser, and more. We all got to choose a silly name to be called that day and, instead of singing "Good morning...", we sang "Goodnight..." followed by their silly name. This was a super fun day.
On Thursday, we all wore green and read Green Eggs and Ham. We played with all green toys, green play doh, and slime. At snack, there was a special surprise prepared by Elisabeth Greer. She made green eggs and ham for us. There were many friends who said, “I like green eggs and ham!” And, they gave a big thumbs up.
On Friday, we read Oh the Places You’ll Go. Some of the children dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up. In class, they all wrote what they want to be when they grow up and drew their self-portraits. It was a fun week reading these books along with many others.
Conferences will be held this Thursday. If you have not signed up for a time slot, please stop by on Monday to see what is available. We look forward to meeting with you. Have a lovely weekend!
Caroline & Cathy