Here Comes Dr. Seuss...

Well I have not posted on here for what feels like forever. But now I feel I must discuss one of my favorite weeks of the year. The week I dedicate each year to Dr. Seuss!!!

Some of my favorite quotes:
"I looked and I saw him right there on the mat. I looked and I saw him that cat in the hat."
"I would not, could not on boat, or with a goat. I could not, would not in house or with a mouse."
"A person's a person no matter how small."
"Today is the day I am going to sleep." (My favorite)

Well last year in first grade I chose to dedicate my classroom to Horton Hears a Who, maybe because it had come out on DVD or maybe because I had picked that as my new favorite, regardless of the reason I went all out. I used talents unbeknowst to me. I recreated the characters and scenery in the story and had a parent volunteer make more life size versions of my re-created characters to be placed all over the room. I made vines and leaves out of felt and brown pipe cleaners to make my classroom into the Jungle of Nool. I had three huge windows in my classroom that I covered with some blue paper reminiscent of the colors used in the Dr. Seuss book and on that paper drew a scene right out of the book using oil pastels.
I was not the only one hard at work on decorating my classroom for Horton. My first graders loved the idea of the Whoos and I handed each of them a piece of a white poster board I had cut into different puzzle pieces which I then asked them to draw their own versions of Whoos. I then put the puzzle back together and though none of the children drew any of their Whoos in the same exact way, the newly created poster looked very cohesive. They also wrote about their favorite part of the story on an elephant writing sheet they then colored it to look like Horton.
My room was a show piece! It was marvelous!!! And I forgot to take pictures of most of it! (Sigh) I was so excited about creating this wonderful piece of art that I forgot to take out my camera before the parade and afterwards started taking everything down again forgetting to take pictures of it. I thought this year would be the year I would again repeat the re-creation of a Dr. Seuss book, but was then told that this year it would not happen the same as last year. Regardless of this, I have chosen The Lorax as my book this year and will not be doing as much as last year but I will be creating some Seuss inspired snacks and the kids will be working on a book of character webs related to books I will be sharing this week. We will focus on The Lorax and its theme to protect our environment and saving trees which I will use to introduce growing plants and parts of a plant as our science unit. I am so excited about introducing the kids to an author that I love!!

Memo to self: If the same hard little nuts act up, let it go. It's not you or your teaching, it's them and whatever their problem of the day is.