Read Across America and March Math Madness

I love Dr. Seuss books and so do Genevieve and Tobias, so we are using the whole week to celebrate Read Across America.  The rhymes are fun.  Illustrations are friendly.  Some words are ridiculously silly.  And there are great lessons, like conservation, humanitarianism, and being willing to try something new.

On Sunday, we read The Lorax.  We decorated some ceramic planters.  Genevieve made her own, Tobias helped me make one, and we had to make one for the cat.  We started a science experiment, testing whether seeds would sprout better on top of the soil or in wet paper without dirt.

On Monday, we read Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches an Egg, Yertle the Turtle, and And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  We chose these books because they all feature animals you might see at the zoo.  Genevieve made a map of the zoo and also made some charts to fill in at the zoo.  We were scientists studying animal behavior and counting animals by classification.  She kept noting the animals that had hair like her, and were therefore mammals. We also had fun marching in our own parade in honor of Mulberry Street.

On Tuesday, we were going to explore rhyming words.  Oddly enough, Mr. Dan chose to point out rhyming words in the books he read in story time.  We played with our rhyming fish.  Genevieve also enjoyed finding rhyming words to finish my sentences.  She played a game with Wonder Red from Super Why on the PBS Kids app.  We also read some of Dr. Seuss's sillier, tongue-twisting rhymes like Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks, Oh Say Can You Say, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.  Genevieve relived the fun of yesterday, painting a giraffe.

Wednesday is busy with two gymnastics classes, park time, and dance but we found some time for Seuss.  We read Bartholomew and the Oobleck, which is one of the few non-rhyming Seuss books.  We also celebrated the beginning of March Math Madness by reading Hoot which counts to 5 and names colors.  We made our own oobleck, using math and measurement skills.  We used cornstarch and water in a 1:1, 2:1, and 1:2 ratio.  Each had a different color.  Then we played with our non-Newtonian fluid, watching it turn from solid to liquid and back again.  Since Bartholomew helps the king with the weather, we observed the weather outside.  Then we made cloud paintings with cotton balls, and shaving cream mixed with a little glue.

Thursday, we read Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat.  We used this as a prompt to try new food so we tried some dragon fruit, which they loved, and star fruit.  We read Pumpkin Countdown, which is a rhyming book which counts down from 20.  We played with our spatial reasoning skills, playing the Three Little Pigs game and with tangrams.

Friday, we went to a rainbow sign class, where we learned color signs.  We read The Butter Battle Book and her favorite, How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  After enjoying all these different books, Genevieve created a book on her own.  She drew pictures and used stickers, and then told me what happened on each page.  It was about the weather.  She also made a bookmark.  We read The Chicken Problem.  She recently discovered Peg +Cat games on PBS Kids, and enjoys the chicken dance game.  So we had a dance party, practicing patterns and she repeated my movement patterns.