Saturday was Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and last Friday was Read Across America at school. I made paper bag Cat in the Hat hats with all the K, 1, and 2 classes during the week. I worked with the PTA president to put together some fun prizes for a Dr. Seuss door decorating contest. I sent out Dr. Seuss trivia all week. It was a great week for books, and it was also the first time in my current district that I’ve tried working on school-wide programming for Read Across America. Last year I was on maternity leave by now, and the year before that it seemed like teachers really did their own thing. So I haven’t been in the spirit since my last big program 3 years ago. It was great.
Tag: Children’s Programs
I came up with this winter bulletin board idea around Thanksgiving, and I saved it for January. I love it so much that I might keep it up until spring. Can you tell the kids are having a snowball fight? I didn’t know if it would translate.
I’ve had a lot of adventures lately, but since I’ve been neglecting this blog a little in favor of sleep and school mania they have gone undocumented. So I’m starting with something from this past weekend, the Brooklyn Book Festival. Kathy and I went on Sunday, and it was quite cool.
At the beginning of the school year I started a new reward program in the library. Inspired by XBox 360 Achievements, students have been “unlocking” library achievements all year. They earned points (written on funky patterned badges cut out from scrapbooking paper) for lining up perfectly, coming in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any of our library games, cleaning up without being asked twice, showing me their library bookmark from the beginning of the year, etc.
Today was our Read Across America program (Dr. Seuss Day to the kids) at school. It’s the biggest program I organize each year, and this year I teamed up with our reading teacher to get the whole school involved.
We had our Halloween shindig today, and it was my first. Last year I was sick for Halloween and stayed home, but this year I got to experience the full awesome craziness. Here are some photos.
Today was the Talent Show at school. And I was so proud of all my munchkins. First the kindergarteners performed a play based on “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Then it was time for all the acts.
Field Day. Considering it’s the kids who did all the running around I can’t believe how tired I am. Exhausted. I came home and slept for 3 hours. Their energy was so over-the-top today that it was exhausting just keeping them off the rafters, so to speak.
February has been a weird month, too. On Friday I mailed off the paperwork for the Six Flags reading contest, so that’s done. And tomorrow is Dr. Suess’s birthday and my Read Across America program. I’ve got 5th graders going to all the pre-k, k, and 1st grade classes to read a Dr. Seuss book to them and help them finish Cat in the Hat hats we started last week. So that’s almost done, too. Those two things have taken up most of my work life lately, so I’ve got tons of processing and lesson plans to figure out now that they’re drawing to a close.
Today I did a program called When I Grow Up. I read a handful of stories about grown up professions. Then we made a sort of time capsule. I had jumbo coffee cans leftover from another craft that just didn’t work out. The kids drew pictures of what they want to be when they grow up, then I taped the pictures to the coffee cans. We cut holes in the lids so the cans be used as banks for their college funds, places to put their report cards and awards, etc. A treasure chest for anything they think will help them reach their goals or that they’d like to look back on when they’re grown up.
The program was a hit, and I threw it together this morning. I knew for months I was doing this theme, but I didn’t pull together the books and the craft until this morning, so I’m thrilled it worked out.
The kids drew themselves as artists, teachers, librarians (like this one), doctors, etc. The books I found were about typical professions, and that’s also the kind of thing the kids drew. I suggested a million other jobs, but they mainly drew the jobs I read about today.
*I did have one 5-year-old boy, a late arrival, who wanted to be either Spider Man or Venom when he grows up. He wasn’t really clear about which one exactly.
Here are the books I read: