Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

Today is the Birthday of Dr. Seuss. So it is time to pull out all of your favorite books, cook up some green eggs and ham and party with Dr. Seuss! Here are a few ideas to help you get into the spirit and have some seussical silliness! Visit www.Seussville.com for lots of great ideas and games as well!

Cat-in-the-Hat Hat

Thing one and Thing Two relay race: choose what you would like to do in the race

Clean up the mess Relay: Before mom gets home you must clean up the mess the cat created. Give the kids a big garbage bag and let them clean up the mess

Balancing Act: have kids try to balance as many things as they can on their heads like the Cat in the Hat

Get Bubble Wrap, a larger piece, and "Hop on Pop"

Create a Fish pond, put in different fish with paper clips attached and then fish them out with a pole with a magnet on the end. Read "One fish, Two Fish Red Fish, Blue Fish" or "McElligot's Pool"

Using "Green Eggs and Ham" find props; such as box, fox, mouse, house and have each person participating hold up their item when it is said while reading the book.

Have a Foot Fest, Invite people to come with fancy, silly, or crazy socks/shoes. Take pictures of them and have them play find your feet later. Use with "The Foot Book"

Have an undecorate the tree race after reading "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"

Have people match the quotes to the correct Dr. Seuss book.

Make cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday

Have a Sneetches race: See which team can run to the end put a star on their belly and run back the fastest.

Put Skittles in a Jar and have people guess the correct amount: Use with my many colored days

Make a "Daisy Head Maisy" headband: have paper headband, flowers, pipe cleaners and other craft supplies available to use.

Make Newspaper Hats to parade around in with Bartholomew and the 5000 hats

Make Oobleck: use 1 cup of corn startch and put into 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of water. Then add green food coloring to make oobleck.

Play Twister with the Foot Book

Make Stars for everyone to put on their bellies for Sneetches.

Now if that isn't enough ideas to get you ready for some Dr. Seuss fun I don't know what will! Have fun and spend some time sharing some Seuss this week!

Mini Math Monsters

I wanted to share some of my favorite math books this month and so I'll start out with a list of books I have that are good for really young readers 0-2.

1 is one by Tasha Tudor
Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Martin Kelly and Phil Legris
10 minutes Till Bedtime by Peggy Rothman
Anno's counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno
Don't Count Your Chicks by Ingri D'Aulaire
Fish Eyes: A Book you Can Count on by Lois Ehlert
Jelly Beans For Sale by Bruce McMillon
Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book by David Kirk
Olivia Counts by Ian Falconer
Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats
Piggies by Audrey Wood
One Gorilla: A Counting Book by Atsuko Morozumi

I hope you enjoy these and I can't wait to share some more of my favorite math books with you over the next month! Happy Counting!

Get Fancy

At our house we love Fancy Nancy and so far my favorite one has been the original Fancy Nancy. With a little girl like Rose who loves accessories Nancy has been quite a favorite around our house.

Author: Jane O'Conner

Illustrator: Robin Preiss Glasser

Summary: Life is hard when you are the only fancy one in your family. That is exactly how Nancy feels. But she gets a great idea, Give her family fancy lessons, with those and a few extra accessories Nancy's family might just be as fancy as she's been wishing them to be.

Ages 2-8

Use to teach: Vocabulary, Adjectives, Description

Book Projects: Make your own Fancy Nancy outfits and accessories, use only Fancy words the whole day

What to Look For

Well in the past few months my book bug blogging has been quite poor and nonexistent but this time I am really ready to get going again!:) So look for more library loves, some fun math books, and book projects to come in the coming weeks. Hopefully we'll have some fun books that you'll want to check out!

Pop-ups

Although I have meant to talk about some great pop-up books to get for your kids, I forgot about it and was reminded because my mom gave us some pop-ups for Christmas. Some of the best authors to look for when you want to get a great pop up book are Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. Both of these authors do fantastic work! Their books are amazing to look at and although they often cost a little bit more money they are a great investment and it's fun to just have one or two. They are books that are definitely for older kids or books that must be read with parents and then put away. But they are something you will love to look at and I'm sure your kids will think they are pretty neat too. Here are a few examples:

Library Loves

We wanted to share a few of the books that we have found at the Library and have really enjoyed a few of these were suggested to us and some we just found on our own. So next time you head to the Library here are a few ideas to pick up:

While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat

Author: Amy Reichert

Illustrator: Alexander Boiger

Summary: The reason why I originally checked out this book was because the little girl was a red head named Rosie, but after reading it both Rose and I thought it was worth another check out. When her mama gets on the phone, she tells Rosie that she is only going to have a quick little chat and that Rosie needs to get ready for bed. But we all know what moms and a quick little chat means and for Rosie a lot more happens that just getting ready for bed.

Ages: 2 to 8

Use to Teach:

Book Projects: Make a homeade telephone with cans and a string

Gone With the Wand

Author: Margie Palatini

Illustrator: Brian Ajhar

Summary: Bernice Sparklestein one of the best fairy godmothers has seemed to have lost her touch. With a wand that doesn't work like it used to and no idea what to do next. Bernice's fairy friend Edith decides to help Bernice find something else that a fairy like her can handle. This fun and silly story make us giggle and laugh as we tried to figure out what Bernice would do next. This one was one of our favorites and I thought it was fun to read the whole way through.

"If yours truly, Edith Molarnari, tooth fairy second class, hadn't seen it with my own two peepers, I wouldn't have believed it myself --- Bernice Sparklestein, once the best fairy godmother in the biz, having a bad wand day. A very bad wand day."

Ages: 3 to 9

Use to teach: Fairy Tales

Book Projects: Make Fairy Wands, Create your own fairy story

Princess Bess Gets Undressed

Author: Margery Cuyler

Illustrator: Heather Maione

Summary: Princess Bess has many beautiful dresses, full of lace and ribbons, and everyday she spends her time changing outfits for all of her different activities but her favorite outfit is one that may surprise and make you smile when you find out what it is. This is Rose's all time favorite book and she could read it over and over again.

Princess Bess has loads of clothes made with satin, snaps, and bows.
And she changes them all day, for her lessons and ballet.

Ages: 2-8

Use to Teach: Getting Dressed, Time, Schedules

Book Projects: Play Dress-up, Make up your own princess outfit, Make Paper Dolls with different outfits

Once Upon a Banana

Author: Jennifer Armstrong

Illustrator: David Small

Summary: This story is all about one silly monkey and how much trouble one banana can cause in one town. This is a picture book so there are no words but I found that Rose loves to look at all the pictures and giggle and point out all of the different things in each pictures. It is a definitely a fun book to check out!

Ages: 2 and up
Use to Teach: Writing Stories, Cause and Effect, Prediction, Description, Sequence

Book Project Ideas: Eat Bananas, Learn about Monkeys, Write your own picture story that follows a sequence and share it with someone in your family.

Now I know that most of these are girly books but hopefully I'll have a few more manly books in the next Library Loves.

Cowboy Classics

So I wasn't quite up and running when I thought I was.... but now this book bug is really ready to go and so for the next two weeks we are going to have some cowboys classics along with a cowboy potato bug project, so we hope your up to it partner!

Little Britches and the Rattlers

Author: Eric A Kimmel

Illustrator: Vincent Nguyen

Summary: Little Britches in on her way to the rodeo to win the calf roping contest. She set out on her pony dressed in her finest cowboy gear. Little did she know that she would meet a bunch of rattlers with a appetite for little girls or their brand new rodeo outfit.

"It's gonna be a fine day," Little Britches said to herself. "I can feel it down to my boots." Little Britches took a shortcut through the dry gulch. She hadn't gone far when a rattlesnake lifted his head. "Little Britches-ch-ch-es, I'm gonna s-s-swaller you up!" The rattler hissed.

Ages: 3-9

Use to teach: Cowboys

Deputy Harvey and the Ant Cow Caper

Author and Illustrator: Brad Sneed

Summary: Someone is stealing cows from the towns herd in Ant Hill and it's causing quite a stir. It's been said that a gang of lady bugs are the culprits. Deputy Harvey is off to find out just who the cow thief and what he finds is quite surprising. This book is a fun cowboy book involving ladybugs, ants, and aphids, you kids will have a lot of fun with it.

Way out west at the foot of an old cottonwood, there is a sleepy little town by the name of Ant Hill. Nothing much ever happens there, and that is just fine with most folks, especially Deputy Harvey. But this morning was different. The deputy had just come from the Milking Barn and there was extra git in his giddyup as he hurried down dusty Main Street.

Ages: 4-9

Use to teach: Insects, Cowboys

Cindy Ellen, A Wild Western Cinderella

Author: Susan Lowell

Illustrator: Jane Manning

Summary: Cindy Ellen is one beautiful cowgirl who is forced to do all the ranch chores for her ornery stepmother and step sisters. And although she mends fences all day and tends the cows she is still as nice as ever. When the big cattle king invites all the neighbors for a square dance Cindy Ellen wishes she could go as well, and with the help of her fairy godmother she might just pull it off. This is a cute spin off of cinderella that is creative and fun.

Then one day the biggest cattle king for miles around invited all his neighbors to a two-day celebration, first a wild and woolly rodeo, and then a square dance-a real western fandango!

Ages: 5-9

Use to teach: Cowboys, Writing, Setting