Fantastical Seusstastical March CURRENTLY

Hi, Friends! How are ya? I’m linking up with Farley at Oh Boy it’s 4th grade for this month’s CURRENTLY.  My wheel’s tend to turn best after dark, so I’m stopping in to share the SUPER silliness that took over our classroom last week.

Monday is Read Across America in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. We also have a spring Open House next week. In preparation for it, we celebrated with a fun Seuss author study a little early.



I love my little Barbaloots; we’ve been working hard and it’s time for some rest and relaxation. We’ve got 5 days ‘til spring break….BRING.IT.ON!!!

THINKING….YIKES, time flies! March morning work will be wrapped and ready for tomorrow. No worries.

WANTING…a day in between Saturday and Sunday, to actually REST! Saturday=housework. Sunday=worship and prepping for the week. Can we get a fun day in between, lol?!

NEEDING….{back to March morning work….}

?????……Seuss, shapes and fractions is the answer. Can you guess the question?



There’s no way to read Dr. Seuss without playing with rhyme. We began the week with a little book titled Come Rhyme with Me, THEN went all in to every Dr. Seuss book we could get our hands on. I think I’ve finally got all of the knots out of my tongue…dedicating a week to alliteration and rhyme was FUN!



Each of our sections of 1st grade, chose one book as the main focus for the week. Our class’ selection was The Lorax. This is our story map that we created after reading it. We also had fun comparing and contrasting the book to the movie.



We created a quick reading response that crossed over into our math time too. {Cross curricular connections….yep, we’re all about that!} Students wrote to complete the sentence….If The Once-ler gave me the last truffula seed, I would…..

…then, traced and cut their handprints to use as the Lorax’s mustache. After creating the Lorax topper, we left the craft on our desks to dry and headed to lunch.

When we came back, students drew their open hand inside the illustration square at the top of the page. Their hand was drawn open in order to “catch” the truffula seed tossed down by The Once-ler.

With our math focus being shapes, student groups were assigned a plane shape or solid figure to trace, cut/assemble, and glue into the open hand drawn on their paper. The shape assigned was determined by the level of difficulty or extension students’ could handle in order to deepen learning of geometric shapes because they would have to then discuss attributes and sort by 2D or 3D. Here’s a closer look….



After we caught and planted truffula seeds in math, the next day….guess what?! They sprouted in our library corner! Those seeds grow fast!



Lots of oooooohs and ahhhhhs were heard and interest in the reading corner is renewed at a time in the year when lots of ants are in 1st graders pants, lol!



Students continued making connections during literacy stations throughout the week. Have I mentioned how much I love my kids yet?! I DO! I sooo DO! When one of them started waving his paper at me from across the room, I knew there were sparks flying in that head of his. Sure enough, I walk over and he’s illustrating more shapes at the writing station….discussing attributes with his stations buddy and REACHING WAY beyond the truffula seed to real world examples. ***LOVE the way they think!!!***

 

By Friday, we were ready for Show, NOT tell….students brought in real world examples and kept them hidden inside of a brown paper bag. After giving their classmates clues to reinforce the learning of attributes and get in more of that math language, guesses were made and the shape or figure was revealed. This smart cookie made sure to write his clues on his bag so he wouldn’t forget! =)

 

Friday was such a frenzy of a fun, exciting kind of day….annnnd they did such an amazing job sharing, we completely ran out of time, so we’ll continue to Show, NOT tell on Monday.



And the Lorax will be there to welcome them back!



Big ole hairy mustache and all….we’ll start Monday out having a ball!

 

Getting ready to have a rhyme time kinda week of your own? Click the pic above to grab a freebie to add to your fun!