Tag: Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That

Kelly Tenkely3 Comments on The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That3745 views

What it is: The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That is a new PBS TV series and website that ignites an excitement about science for primary students.  The series is based on the Beginner Book Collection “The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library”.  The goal of the series and online resources is to “cultivate positive views about science and scientists among the next generation-the children who will become tomorrow’s citizens and innovators-and help teachers and families build communities of science explorers.”  I don’t know about you, but I love the idea of building communities of explorers, science or otherwise!  In the TV series, The Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Nick set off on a science adventure.  In one episode, the trio flies with birds to discover why they migrate.  In another, they are taking a snowcat to the Arctic to explore freezing and melting.  As the Cat in the Hat guides them, the children solve problems by engaging in science inquiry.  Right now students can watch video clips on The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That website, play related games, find activities and coloring pages to print, and play games with snapshots from the program.  Right now adventures on the site include science concepts like bird migration, camouflage, and melting/freezing.

How to integrate The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That into your curriculum: If you are a regular visitor of my blog, you know that I am a big Dr. Seuss fan (see pictures of Dr. Seuss inspired classroom theme here).  While this site isn’t strictly Seuss, it does a remarkable job of bringing The Cat in the Hat to life with a focus on scientific inquiry.  Use the videos on the site to introduce your students to new science concepts including migration, camouflage, and melting/freezing (my guess is more will be added as the series takes off).  Students can engage in the inquiry process along with Sally and Nick and then practice the newly acquired concept in the games section.  This would be a fun site to use as a science center that students visit on classroom computers during a coordinating unit.  Students can view videos prior to exploring the concept as background knowledge, or watch the videos after engaging in their own inquiry process on the topic and compare the journey of inquiry taken.  Did Sally and Nick come to the same conclusions?

The printables on the site include fun mazes, coloring pages, matching vocabulary, and even bookmarks, stickers, and other paper crafts.  One of the print outs in the Paper Craft Sections is a Cat in the Hat frame that would be great for framing pictures of students engaging in their own scientific inquiry.

Tips: Be sure to click on the teacher button to find an Explorer’s Guide where you can find tips for engaging young students in scientific inquiry.  You will also find tips for using the online video in your classroom, a list of Cat in the Hat science books, and find video enhanced activities.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That in your classroom!

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Dr. Seuss Inspired Classroom Theme

Kelly Tenkely29 Comments on Dr. Seuss Inspired Classroom Theme5286 views

Since I don’t have a classroom of my own to set up this year, I dropped into a friends classroom to offer my bulletin board expertise (I LOVE decorating for the year and begged for her to let me help).  She is teaching first grade for the first time this year and wanted a fun theme.  Dr. Seuss is perfect!  I hunted down some good Dr. Seuss quotes that would tie in with what she wanted to display on the bulletin boards and we set to work pulling it all together.  I think it looks great!

This is right next to the clock, it says "How did it get late so soon?"
Above the door to the classroom it says: Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
This is the classroom jobs board and morning message board.
Over the jobs board it says: This mess is too big and too deep and too tall. But, we can clean it up! We can clean it up all!
Kings Kid is like a Star Student or VIP, they make a poster all about them to hang up for the week. This quote says: Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.
This is the reading corner, it turned out so cozy!
Another angle of the reading center with the Cat in the Hat on the back of a bookshelf.
On the closet door is Thing 2.
Horton is on the girls bathroom door.
Two fish is on the boys bathroom door.
The backside of two bookcases in the reading center.
This is where student work will be displayed. The quote above says: Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh the Thinks you can think up if only you try!
Front of the classroom with the Promethean board.
Back of the classroom.
Toward the reading center.
Teacher desk

The room turned out so cute!  Right now the calendar has purchased numbers on it, I suggested that she take pictures of all of the kids holding up their class number and using those as numbers on the calendar.  She only has 19 students this year so for the additional numbers she is going to have specialist teachers and admin hold up numbers.  To tie in with the Dr. Seuss theme, she is going to use Photo Booth’s green screen background to insert a Dr. Seuss background for the kids.  The kids will wear a Cat in the Hat hat for the pictures.  🙂  It is going to be cute!

My favorite touches in the room are that each bulletin board is designed for student interaction or to display student work or accomplishments.  I can’t wait to see it when all of the student work is up!

Seussville University

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on Seussville University3936 views

What it is: Seussville University website is created by Random House Children’s publishing in the spirit of making learning fun. Kids favorite Dr. Seuss characters serve as their guides to learning in the fun, interactive environment. Horton the Elephant hosts the reading area where kids learn basic reading concepts such as letter recognition, sounds of letters and rhyming words. Yertle the Turtole hosts the math area where kids learn to recognize numbers, number words, to count, and do simple addition. The Lorax hosts the science area where kids are introduced to animal categories, basic astronomy and ecology. Sam-I-Am hosts the reasoning area, here kids can compare size, number, patterns, and directions and learn opposites. These activities are best for kindergarten and first grade students.

How to integrate Seussville University into the classroom: Suessville University is a wonderful addition to any kindergarten or first grade classroom. It can be used for language, math, science, and reasoning reinforcement. Students will love the interactive games with familiar Dr. Seuss characters. This would make a fun center activity for student rotations during daily learning activities. There are also printable activities that coordinate with the website activities. Use Seussville while completing a Dr. Seuss unit. Encourage parents to use Seussville with their children at home as an extension activity.

Tips: Keep Seussville University in the bookmark bar for easy access for your students. They are bound to love this site!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Seussville University in your
classroom.