The Cat in the Hat Week!

Our second week of Dr. Seuss was all about “The Cat in the Hat!” And, while this is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, my kiddos this year didn’t love it. So, I followed their lead, and altered my plans a little as the week went on. They had a blast with all of the games, activities, and centers I had for them. They just didn’t like the story. So, we read a lot of other Dr. Seuss books this week after our first read of “The Cat in the Hat.” Here are some of our favorites from the week! (Click on the images to get your own copy!)

                

 

Shared Reading

Our shared reading this week included the poem “Hats” and the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle.” We read them over and over again until the kiddos can read them independently. They get so excited when they can read something by themselves! This shared reading set is in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you want to have your own! Just click on the images to get yours!

We always start with the poem on a chart or in a pocket chart. We echo read several times, and when the kiddos seem to have it down, we choral read. But, no matter how we are reading it, I always point to the words with a pointer! At the end of the week, the kiddos get their own copy of the poem. Sometimes it’s a little book that they color, practice reading, and put in their book boxes. And sometimes it’s a poem page that they color, practice reading, and add to their rhyme folders. Either way, they are “reading,” and they love it! If you want to see one of my kiddos in action reading “Hats,” just scroll all the way to the bottom of this post!

 

Circle Time

During circle time, we played several different “Silly Cat” games! “Silly Cat Snap!” is a fun letter recognition game. “Silly Cat, Where’s Your Hat?” helps us work on syllables. “Silly Hat on the Ground” gives us practice with letter sounds. And, “Which Cat Took the Hat?” helped us practice colors and positional words. This set is also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Just click on the images to get your own set that includes all the printables and directions!

We played my Silly Cat version of the game Snap!

 

We played Silly Hat on the Ground.

 

And we played Silly Cat, Where’s Your Hat?

 

All of these circle time games are in my TPT store! Just click on the product cover to go grab your set!

 

Art Ideas

We did some super fun crafts and art projects to go along with the book this week! The first one we did was Cat in the Hat directed art project! I love these projects for extra practice with shapes, fine motor skills, and following directions! Basically, I give the kiddos a piece of construction paper (usually a square or rectangle) and show them how to cut it to make a different shape like a circle or a triangle. Then I show them where to glue each piece. (These are three different examples of how three kiddos made theirs. They all started with the same pieces, and they were all given the same directions, but they each turn out a little different!)

We do it one piece at a time until we get to the finished product. Unlike a traditional cut-and-paste craft, their own personalities really come through on directed art projects!

 

We also painted our own version of Thing 1 and Thing 2, but ours were PK Things! First we painted the shirts red.

Then we used droppers and straws to blow blue paint around the page to make the crazy hair!

 

After they were dry, I added the kiddos pictures to be the faces! Unfortunately, I can’t show you that part, but they were ADORABLE!! Here are a few of their finished products minus the pictures:

 

The cats and the PK Things all ended up on display in the hallway as part of our school-wide Dr. Seuss celebration!

 

Our final “Cat in the Hat” craft was to make a new hat for the cat. The kiddos got to color their hats however they wanted to, and they were super excited that they could use markers!

 

It was a great week even though I had to change course slightly! Our first Dr. Seuss week was all about Green Eggs and Ham! If you missed it, you can read about it by clicking this image:

 

 

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Happy Teaching!