Read Read Read!
It is that time of the year where schools across the country dedicate their already reading lives to more... well... READING!
Dr. Seuss books have captivated children for years upon years. As a child I can remember loving to finish my parents sentences while reading those books. The rhyming in them is contagious.
Our school decided to celebrate Monday of Read Across America Week by dressing up on each day.
Day 1- Monday
This was our day to dress up as our favorite Dr. Seuss character. The Grinch is by far my favorite, but since I already did that for Christmas I opted to be the Cat in the Hat.
The outfit was effective yet easy. For anyone looking for a quick outfit this is the way to go. I took black dress pants and a black sweater for the the base. I cut out an oval from white felt to make the stomach. This was glitter felt so it added a special touch. White winter gloves made the perfect hands. I used eyeliner to draw on a nose and whiskers. Finally I already had a giant red bow and a hat to top it off.
The kids love it, especially my nephew!
The students loved dressing up too!
Thing Hair
I enjoyed dressing my entire class up as Things for the day and parading them around to lunch and specials! To do this just take a long piece of bright blue paper, staple to fit your students head, and then cut down in strips. Take the ends and curl and bend them down. Viola! You now have a bunch of Things in your classroom!
Thing Art Project
To go with our bright blue hair we made our own thing dolls. Students traced their hand on blue paper to make the hair.
I printed out pictures of their faces to glue on for the face. Then students traced and cut out their other hand and left out the middle finger. This created a cute little body. Lastly, I gave them thing labels 2-15! So easy, promotes find motor skills, and it is super cute!
I had my whole class of living Things and a whole horde of doll Things!
Day 2
Crazy hats and hair!
Cindy Lou Hoo inspired me for this wonderful hair do. It was so much fun to participate in this.
For those who want to give it a try I used an empty paper coffee cup, kids can use dixie cups.
First I separated my hair into three parts. One main part on top and then hair on either side to make the pig tails, the top part is in a triangle section. I used some hairspray and combed the hair straight up covering the cup in the middle part. When you put the pony tail holder in and pull it down it holds the cup in place. Then I braided in pipe cleaners to the two side sections and pinned them up. The pipe cleaners help hold the shape. Last I curled my extra ends.
Day 3
Reading is a Breeze in the Truffula Trees
This was a wonderful opportunity for students to show off their skills to older friends. The kiddos prepared their books and practiced with their friends to get ready to read to first grade. When the first grade came in they took their older partner to the Truffula Trees and read them a short story. The first grade then read to our Kindergarteners. They even made them a special badge!!!
New Bulletin Board and Truffula Forrest
I decided to change up the bulletin for this week as well as outside my classroom. I found a quick and easy way to make Truffula Trees online.
Materials
Plumbing Insulators 6 foot (1.24 a piece)
Tissue paper from the dollar store (8 pieces per top)
Yellow Duct Tape
Thin Jewelry Wire
It was pretty entertaining buying these materials fro 16 trees!
Directions: Use the yellow duct tape to stripe the pipe insulators. Very simple! Take 8 pieces of tissue paper and accordion fold it. Tie a pieces of wire in the middle. Cut both ends into a point on the tissue paper. Carefully pull apart the tissue and form the flower. Push the ends of the wire through the top of the tubing and tie it off and cover with duct tape. You are DONE!
My friend and I made about 16 of these in 4 hours! So simple with a dramatic effect.
Bulletin Board
I used them for this bulletin along with some Seuss characters that I drew.
"Would you read here? Would you read there? Mendon students read EVERYWHERE!"
Truffula Forrest
Outside my room I hung them with fishing wire from the ceiling. I added the title "Reading is a Breeze in the Truffula Trees" along with some hand made characters. They look like magic and the kids love them. They are each assigned a spot in the forrest and we get to take the last 15 minutes of the day to silent read. They have never been so excited as they are now to read in our forrest.
At the end of it all the students decided they wanted to put their thing name tags on the desk. This number is the same as their hallway number for their work and class number. It helps them remember as well as myself!
