Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

Lil' E has been so excited about Dr. Seuss's birthday this whole week.  They talked about it at school on Monday and every day since he has brought it up.  I thought it would be fun to make a celebration out of it.  Lil' E loves Dr. Seuss books.  They are some of his favorites.  What started out as an idea to bring a small snack to school, turned into a full Dr. Seuss dinner.

Many of the ideas I found on pinterest.com.  Others I found on individual blogs and some were my own.  Probably done by others, but aren't most ideas you come up with like that?

The Yink's Pink Ink Drink

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish

Strawberry Lemonade

The Cat in the Hat Parfaits

The Cat in the Hat

Strawberry Jello and Cool Whip

Poodles Eating Noodles

Fox in Socks

Pasta Salad

Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham

Deviled eggs died green and spiral ham.

Oh the Places Pinwheels

Oh the Places You'll Go

Sugar cookies

Brown Bar-Ba-Loots Trufulla Fruits

The Lorax

Fruit Platter

Butter Side Down Bread

The Butter Battle Book

Rolls

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish

Rainbow Goldfish Crackers

I thought it would be really fun to take the kids to see The Lorax since it came out today.  But trying to pull off the dinner and get the house clean to have my parents over tonight was enough for me.  Maybe another night.  Doble was actually asking if he could have a Dr. Seuss birthday party.  If this is what he chooses I guess I better save these ideas for it.  There were a couple more ideas I thought of, but I just ran out of time.  To be honest we had plenty of food with what I did make. 

So what did you do to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day, Read Across America? 

5 Fun and Creative Reading Activities

Can you see where my focus is this summer?  I really am hoping to sneak some reading opportunities into the kids' summer.  I found a few fun ideas that I wanted to pass along to you.  These can be catered to your child's level of learning.

Duplo Spellers

@ Filth Wizardry

I can't wait to put these together for the kids.  I think they are perfect for them.  The spellers can help Doble sound out and create words.  The Sentence Duplos can help Lil' E move onto creating whole sentences.  Now I just need to get my hands on some Legos.

Take advantage of weather

@ about.com

 Be adventurous and make it a game as to where you should read to your child and how. In warm weather, read next to a pond or lake, under a tree, by the pool, or even in the tree house. Be bold and carefree. One mother reads to her young child in their blow-up children's pool in the backyard during the summer months. Another mom finishes the much-anticipated daily trip to the park in the spring or fall by reading a book before they leave. Cold months can mix reading activities by having books about snowmen, snowfalls, winter holidays, or sports such as ice skating. Day care centers or child providers can add reading fun into the mix by tying it into a planned activity for the week. If the theme for the week is "Under the Sea," then the books can be about the ocean or fish.

Sight Word Memory

@ Teach Mama

At the begining of the school year we made this game for Lil' E taking all his sight words.  I searched the web to find a tutorial to share with you so I didn't have to repost it.  Works perfectly because not only do you see how to make and play Sight Word Memory, but you now have a great resource in Teach Mama.

Summer Journals

@ Teacher 2 Mom

Lil' E brought home his school journal a couple weeks ago and has been taking it along with him everywhere.  He loves to write in it.  I have been so impressed with his ability to sound words out and write his own sentences without any help.

Magnetic Letters

@ The Snail's Trail

I love this simple game you can create for your preschooler.  Most of us have magnet letters laying around the house and this can be easily made.  What a great way to introduce letters and short words to early learners. 



Monster Corner Bookmarks {tutorial}

While searching for a cute gift idea to make for a monster birthday party the kids and I came across these Monster Corner Bookmarks.  They were so simple to make that we made the birthday boy 3 and made each of the kids one of their own.   {The original idea came from I Could Make That}

What you’ll need:
pretty paper of cardstock weight OR a combination of plain cardstock and pretty, decorated lighter weight paper
scissors
ruler
glue stick
[optional] other decorating tools, such as crayons, markers, stamps, stickers, ink pads, embossing powder, etc.

Let's get crafting

1) On a piece of white cardstock make your template.  Using a ruler draw a 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch square.  You can go a little bigger, but this makes a very good size.  Draw second square exactly the same size on the right side of the first square (so they share a side) and a third square exactly the same size on the top of the first square. You should end up with 3 squares that compose an L shape.

2) Using your ruler, draw a diagonal line across the top left square, from its top right corner to its bottom left corner. Scribble out the upper left half (now a triangle) of the square, as you won’t be using that part.

Next, draw a diagonal line across the bottom right square, from its top right corner to its bottom left corner. Scribble out the lower right half (now a triangle) of this square.

3) Cut out all parts, but your scribbled out triangles.  This will be your template.

5) Trace your template onto the piece of cardstock that you intend to use for your bookmark (sorry mine is so light)

6) Using your ruler,score a line (make an indent) along the edges of the square that connect to the two triangles.  After making this once by scoring I actually just carefully folded it.

6.5) [optional] Cut a slightly smaller square than you used for your template from a piece of printed paper. Glue the square into the square portion created by your template.

7) Fold one triangle inwards, so it covers the upper half of the square.

8) Apply glue to the underside (the side still facing up) of the second triangle, and fold it over onto the first triangle.

8.5) [optional] As in step 6.5, if you’ve used plain cardstock and want to glue a matching top, cut a triangle slightly smaller than the template triangle using the same paper you did for the square.

9) Make your embellishments. We went with teeth and eyes.  For the eyes I used my creative memories 1 inch and 3/4 inch circle punches, then freehanded the black pupil.

9.5) The teeth were made by making another 2.5 inch square (or whatever size you made your template square). Draw a diagonal line from one top point to a bottom point.  Then freehand zig zags for teeth.

10) Cut out your teeth and put glue onto the triangular portion.  Then slip into your bookmark and glue to the top triangle.

11) Add your eyes and you are done.

I Could Make That has 2 other ways to make corner bookmarks.  Stop by her blog and try them out.  They are similar to this one, without the monster touch.

6 Free Summer Reading Programs

Sometimes it can be a struggle to get our children to read during the summer months.  They either want to play outside with friends, or inside with toys and video games.  This summer we are going to focus on reading.  This year in Kindergarten Lil' E learned to read.  Doble is in the early stages of sounding words out, and Razy loves to look at pictures and be read to.  I am hoping that by the end of the summer their love for reading will have encreased as well as their skill. 

Sometimes we all need a little incentive and the following is a list of Free Reading Programs taking place this summer.  Take a look and have some Fun Reading!

Barnes and Noble Books

Imagination’s Destination FREE Summer Reading program

The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program is here to help you on your way, encouraging you to read books of your own choosing and earn a FREE book, simply by following these three easy steps:

1. Read any eight books this summer and record them in this Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Imagination’s Destination Journal. Be sure to let us know to whom you would recommend each book, and why.

2. Bring your completed journal to a Barnes & Noble store between May 24th and September 6th, 2011.

3. Choose your FREE reading adventure from the book list featured on the back of the journal. Click here to get your free journal.

Old Spaghetti Factory Summer Reading Program

 Children who read five books are eligible for a free kid's meal. Click here for more details.

Borders Double Dog Dared Reading Challenge

Kids ages 12 and under are being “Double Dog Dared” to read 10 books this summer and record them on the downloadable form. Then just take the completed form into any store for your free book of select titles.

Local Library Summer Reading Programs

Make sure to visit your local library to see what summer reading programs they have avaliable.  Many libraries not only have a summer reading program but also offer story time, and other activities throughout the summer.

Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge

Keep your kids reading all summer long with great books from Pottery Barn Kids. Read together at their weekly Story Times or read independantly at home. Visit a local store to receive a free book when your child complete one of our recomended reading lists. The recomended reading list has some great classic childrens books on it!

Chuck E. Cheeses

You can download a free Reading Rewards Calendar (and other ones too) to incentivize some summer reading. Read a book for 2 weeks and kids earn 10 free tokens as a reward!

Coming Soon:

Fun ways to encourage your children to read during the summer