Happy birthday to the good doctor, Dr. Seuss. Make sure you check out all the Dr. Seuss posts throughout this website: Dr. Seuss, The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss book review, Create Your Own Cat in the Hat Summary Hat, and Create Your Own Seussian Birthday Adventure.
Schools are closed here for weather, sadly, so I won't get to do any fun Dr. Seuss activities with the kids today. I hope you get to, though!
And finally, Happy Birthday, Julie! Head over to her site and wish her a happy birthday!
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Showing posts with label Seuss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seuss. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Create Your Own Seussian Birthday Adventure
If you’re about to complete this project in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, you have read Happy Birthday to You!. So you know what Dr. Seuss would do on his birthday if he could do anything in the whole world. What would you do?
Supplies Needed:
White Paper
Pencil
Markers
Dr. Seuss’ picture book illustrations were completed in pen and ink, so let’s use markers for our illustrations. The result will be pretty close.
Think about what you would do if you lived in Katroo and could have any wish in the world on your birthday. I would have a party on a pair of hot air balloons.
Draw your birthday adventure. Remember, you can celebrate with imaginary creatures or travel to anyplace in your imagination. It’s all up to you.
When you’re happy with your drawing, color it in with marker. You’ll want to outline most things in black first. If you look at Dr. Seuss’ drawings, he outlines in black, too.
Finally, write a few rhyming lines about your birthday adventure.
If you and your friends each create a page, you can put them together into your own birthday book.
Happy Birthday to You!
_____
Supplies Needed:
White Paper
Pencil
Markers
Think about what you would do if you lived in Katroo and could have any wish in the world on your birthday. I would have a party on a pair of hot air balloons.
Draw your birthday adventure. Remember, you can celebrate with imaginary creatures or travel to anyplace in your imagination. It’s all up to you.
When you’re happy with your drawing, color it in with marker. You’ll want to outline most things in black first. If you look at Dr. Seuss’ drawings, he outlines in black, too.
If you and your friends each create a page, you can put them together into your own birthday book.
Happy Birthday to You!
_____
Don't forget to Create Your Own Cat in the Hat Summary Hat!
Labels:
art project,
kids,
picture book,
Seuss
Create Your Own Cat in the Hat Summary Hat
I guess I wouldn’t call this an art project. But it is an artistic way to present a summary. And it’s a great way to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday on Monday.
Supplies Needed:
White Construction Paper
Red Construction Paper
Pencil
Glue Stick
Scissors
First, read Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat. Write a sentence each about the beginning, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the conclusion. You’ll use this later when you write your summary.
Draw a funky hat on your sheet of white paper. When you like what you’ve drawn, cut it out. Turn your hat over to the clean side. You don’t want all those pencil lines to show.
Cut out five strips of red construction paper and lay them across your white hat in stripes. Glue down the left end of each strip. Remember to press down on the glued section for about ten seconds before you move on to the next strip. Trim the extra red paper.

Flip up the first red strip and neatly copy your sentence about the beginning of the story. Then flip up the second red strip and copy your sentence about the rising action. Continue, in order, to write your summary sentences under the red strips.
Write the title of the book and the author's name on the brim of the hat.
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Supplies Needed:
White Construction Paper
Red Construction Paper
Pencil
Glue Stick
Scissors
Draw a funky hat on your sheet of white paper. When you like what you’ve drawn, cut it out. Turn your hat over to the clean side. You don’t want all those pencil lines to show.
Flip up the first red strip and neatly copy your sentence about the beginning of the story. Then flip up the second red strip and copy your sentence about the rising action. Continue, in order, to write your summary sentences under the red strips.
Return to main page.
Labels:
art project,
kids,
picture book,
Seuss
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Dr. Seuss
Wow. It’s Thursday already, huh? How’d your week go?
In celebration of his upcoming birthday (Monday), this week’s illustrator is Dr. Seuss. I have to assume that you have read some of his books or, at the very least, seen some of the movies made from his stories. So instead of reviewing a bunch of his books, I’m going to tell you a few fun facts about him, and then say a little about two books that will be used for the projects I’ll post tomorrow.
Dr. Seuss wasn’t always Dr. Seuss. He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel. In 1921 he went to Dartmouth College, where he wrote for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, the College’s humor magazine. He got into some trouble and, as punishment, the school told him that he could no longer work on the magazine. Well, Theodor didn’t like that option. He continued to write for the magazine under a new pen name—Seuss. The “Dr.” was added after he graduated.
In 1954, a study showed that children weren’t learning to read in school because they thought the books they were reading were boring. Dr. Seuss and his editor came up with a list of the most important words for kids to know how to read and Dr. Seuss wrote a rhyming story using only those words. He had written quite a few books that were well-liked and popular before this, but The Cat in the Hat was special. And kids liked it. It was a book they wanted to read again and again.
Interestingly, Dr. Seuss, though one of the most-beloved and well-known children’s book authors, never won a Caldecott Medal. Three of his books—McElligot’s Pool, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, and If I Ran the Zoo—were runners up, what we now call Caldecott Honor books.
_______
Since Monday is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, is there really a better book to read than his Happy Birthday to You!? This is the story of a place called Katroo where people can do as they wish on their birthdays. The Great Birthday Bird swoops into your home and takes you on a full-day birthday adventure. In Katroo, on your birthday, you can do anything you want. You can eat any food, make a mess, take home an exotic pet, and stay up all night at your birthday party where there are fireworks and a boat-sized birthday cake. Sounds like a great birthday to me!
The second project tomorrow will feature The Cat in the Hat. The story begins with two bored children on a rainy day. When the Cat in the Hat strolls into their home, he turns a boring day into a fun-filled adventure. But the cat’s antics create a huge mess that the children worry will never be cleaned up before their mom gets home.
Return to main page.
In celebration of his upcoming birthday (Monday), this week’s illustrator is Dr. Seuss. I have to assume that you have read some of his books or, at the very least, seen some of the movies made from his stories. So instead of reviewing a bunch of his books, I’m going to tell you a few fun facts about him, and then say a little about two books that will be used for the projects I’ll post tomorrow.
Dr. Seuss wasn’t always Dr. Seuss. He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel. In 1921 he went to Dartmouth College, where he wrote for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, the College’s humor magazine. He got into some trouble and, as punishment, the school told him that he could no longer work on the magazine. Well, Theodor didn’t like that option. He continued to write for the magazine under a new pen name—Seuss. The “Dr.” was added after he graduated.
In 1954, a study showed that children weren’t learning to read in school because they thought the books they were reading were boring. Dr. Seuss and his editor came up with a list of the most important words for kids to know how to read and Dr. Seuss wrote a rhyming story using only those words. He had written quite a few books that were well-liked and popular before this, but The Cat in the Hat was special. And kids liked it. It was a book they wanted to read again and again.
Interestingly, Dr. Seuss, though one of the most-beloved and well-known children’s book authors, never won a Caldecott Medal. Three of his books—McElligot’s Pool, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, and If I Ran the Zoo—were runners up, what we now call Caldecott Honor books.
_______
Since Monday is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, is there really a better book to read than his Happy Birthday to You!? This is the story of a place called Katroo where people can do as they wish on their birthdays. The Great Birthday Bird swoops into your home and takes you on a full-day birthday adventure. In Katroo, on your birthday, you can do anything you want. You can eat any food, make a mess, take home an exotic pet, and stay up all night at your birthday party where there are fireworks and a boat-sized birthday cake. Sounds like a great birthday to me!
The second project tomorrow will feature The Cat in the Hat. The story begins with two bored children on a rainy day. When the Cat in the Hat strolls into their home, he turns a boring day into a fun-filled adventure. But the cat’s antics create a huge mess that the children worry will never be cleaned up before their mom gets home.
Return to main page.
Labels:
illustration,
kids,
picture book,
Seuss
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