profile

Joyce and Steve | 1st Grade Pandamania

Celebrate Reading with Dr. Seuss!

Published about 1 year agoΒ β€’Β 1 min read

Hello Reader,

β€œThe more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
- Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was sure ahead of his time. He knew the importance of phonemic awareness, rhyming, and alliteration before Science of Reading was a thing.

His books are filled with fun, repetitive phrases, sight words, and silly nonsense words that keep students asking for more until they can read Dr. Seuss books independently.

So why not celebrate his birthday with a big Dr. Seuss Day or Read Across America?! His birthday is on Saturday, March 2, but many are celebrating March 2-6!

Here are 10 ways to celebrate reading on Dr. Seuss Day:

  • Share a history of Dr. Seuss and his accomplishments.
  • Write the Dr. Seuss quote above on the board and discuss its meaning.
  • Collect as many Dr. Seuss books as possible and have a read-a-thon.
  • Send a quick note home to have students bring in their Dr. Seuss books from home (with student names inside!), pillows, and stuffies to have an hour of reading Dr. Seuss books.
  • Have everyone wear stripes, red and white, or crazy socks for the book Fox in Socks.
  • Have a Read Across America grade-level rotation where each teacher leads an activity related to Dr. Seuss and every 30 minutes classes rotate. (See this blog post for more information on rotations.)
  • Read aloud favorite Seuss books and pause at the ends of sentences where there is a rhyming word for students to chorally finish. Put me down, said the fish. This is no fun at all! Put me down, said the fish. I do NOT wish to _______!
  • Have the principal or other guest reader come in to read their favorite Dr. Seuss book. Have them tell why it's their favorite!
  • Make green eggs by adding pureed broccoli to scrambled eggs (sounds a little gross, but they might just love it!).
  • Provide rhyming activities, books to make, and games. See below:

Check out these rhyming activities from our Targeted Phonics Program!​

​Or build simple rhyming word family flip books!​

video preview​

Happy Dr. Seuss Day, Reader!

Joyce and Steve | 1st Grade Pandamania

Your K-2 Education Resource Creators

We are Joyce and Steve, educators with over 60 years of experience. Our mission is to help teachers and homeschool parents target 🎯 their instruction to enhance student learning. We are excited to share our ideas, easy-to-use materials, and wealth of knowledge with you. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and receive tips and FREE resources to help you and your primary students thrive this school year! 🎊

Read more from Joyce and Steve | 1st Grade Pandamania
CVC and CVCe Vowel Discrimination Videos

Hello Reader, You heard that right. This is big. We have now made our Phonics Videos for CVC, CVCe, and Suffixes all FREE on YouTube for you to use whenever you need to! Use these 14 Videos for FREE during: instruction morning work small group whole group interventions centers or whenever you have a few minutes for review! See ALL Full-Length SOR Targeted Phonics Videos Why are we doing this? We believe in these phonics videos. We want your students to learn and practice important phonics...

21 days agoΒ β€’Β 1 min read

Hello Reader, So here's the story. One busy morning before school, I let my hair go curly instead of styling it straight as usual. I thought it looked pretty good, so I went to school. No one said anything about my new style, good or bad, but I did get some second glances... The bell rang, and I opened the outside door to greet my 1st graders with a big smile. As many of you know, first graders notice everything new. James, in particular. And there he was, first in line, eager to start the...

2 months agoΒ β€’Β 1 min read

Hello Reader, It's hard to teach guided reading groups when the rest of the class needs your attention. During centers, are your students: off task? asking for help? lacking confidence? frustrated? misbehaving? When your students lack confidence about the task they are required to complete, they may show it in disruptive ways. Here are some things to be mindful of when you are planning centers: Target activities to your students' needs. Target activities to your students' levels. Be clear...

3 months agoΒ β€’Β 1 min read