April 9th: Dr. Seuss Day!

Today, we read two Dr. Seuss books, "The Cat in the Hat" and "Oh say can you say!". As a kid, Dr. Seuss books were my favorite, so I picked two I had at home to read to the Bookmunchers this week. Most of the kids had read "The Cat in the Hat" before, but "Oh say can you say!" was a new one full of exciting tongue twisters. I asked them if they knew any tongue twisters already. One girl quickly replied "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood". I was very impressed with the tongue twisters they knew and could say right off the bat.

After we read both books, I drew a picture on the board of a rainy day, like the one that was in "The Cat in the Hat". I asked all the kids what they usually do on rainy days. Then, I drew a stick figure person of each of them in the house doing what they usually do on rainy days. Some were watching TV, others listening to music, one kid was sleeping, and a few were playing outside in the puddles :)

Then, I passed out little slips of paper with a word from "The Cat in the Hat". For example, box, wall, dress, fun, or fish. I asked them to come up with as many rhymes for that word as they could. After they finished, we gathered in a circle and each kid read all their rhymes as fast as they could.

 

These are some pictures of the slips of paper the kids wrote on. They each came up with lots of rhymes for each word. We talked about how in "The Cat in the Hat", every phrase rhymed with each other, which made it more fun to read and listen.

 

 

Next, I laid out strips of colored construction paper and asked them each to choose one of their favorite color. Then, I told them they would be making their own alliteration sentences using their names. Similar to the alliteration phrases in "Oh say can you say!", each kid would have to come up with a sentence using their name and other words that started with the same syllable. For example:

 

 

Claire cooked a casserole

Therese tickled a turtle

Megan made a marshmallow museum

Emerson entered the elevator

 

The kids had fun using their own names to create sentences with alliteration. They were able to help each other think of words and share their ideas at the end.

 

For our snack this week, we had grapes and mini pancakes. Each snack was based off of the food mentioned in "Oh say can you say!".

 

Green Grape Cakes

As he gobbled the cakes on his plate,
the greedy ape said as he ate,
the greener green grapes are,
the keener keen apes are
to gobble green grape cakes,
they’re great!

 

What would you rather be when you grow up?

A cop in a cop’s cap?
Or a cupcake cook
in a cupcake cook’s cap?
Or a fat flapjack flapper
in a flat flapped-jack cap?
OR…
If you think
you don’t like cops’ caps,
flapjack flappers’
or cupcake cooks’ caps,
maybe you’re one
of those choosy chaps
who likes kooky captains’ caps
perhaps