Cat in the Hat at Jumpstart

How do you pick just ONE of Dr. Seuss’ quotes?  I can’t do it, so here are a few of my many favorites!

 

“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.” ~Dr. Seuss

 

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”  ~Dr. Seuss

 

“A person's a person, no matter how small.”

~Dr. Seuss

 

 

Another great day spent in the Jumpstart as we celebrated one of my favorite author’s birthdays.  I also got to spend time with a great group of kids, a great teacher (Miss Stacey) and one of my best friends, who decided to join me, Miss Deb.  I just love Dr. Seuss books, and love the way kiddos are just engrossed in the book, even if they have heard it 100 times before!  I couldn’t decide which story I wanted to read, but Cat in the Hat seemed to be the way to go.  Of course the Lorax is always a great choice too, but time only allowed one story.  I was surprised when Miss Deb showed up with a gift for me~ a Cat in the Hat in a box with my own hat and a new copy of the book for me!  I was thrilled to get to wear it into the Jumpstart classroom. 

 

We read the story, Cat in the Hat, and when I say we, I mean the students enjoyed chiming in during the parts they remembered.  We completed a sorting activity, talking about different kinds of weather and what pictures went in each category. We talked about what we liked to do on rainy days and then illustrated our rainy day activities and dictated, or helped write, a sentence about our pictures.

 

We then made our own hats, the same shape as the Cat’s, but ours were decorated very differently.  We discuss how they were the same and different from the Cat’s and from each other’s!

 

And last, but not least, we put an ice cream cone “hat” on top of a scoop of ice cream.  We used various sweets to decorate our dessert to look like the Cat in the Hat!  Not only fun, but yummy!!

 

I am already looking forward to my next visit!

 

Penguins visit Jumpstart...

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real."  ~ Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

 

This is my first blog entry that doesn’t address my life in the kindergarten world, or as a mom!  The trend here is…children.  I love the excitement you see on their faces when they learn something new, or create something that they want to tell you all about.  Their imaginations are endless and take us on adventures that prime time cannot compare to.

 I dreamed of being a teacher beginning at the age of 7.    This was the year I had a fabulous teacher (one of many I was fortunate enough to have.)  I loved to read at a young age.  Part of the reason is because it was a challenge in the classroom.  I went to school during the time when SRA was used in the classroom.  Maybe some of you remember the different levels and colors.  We read the stories, answered the questions, and if we did well on the “test” for that book we moved on!  I had a bit of a competitive nature, so I was going to conquer reading those levels first!!  Though I am sure I was not successful, it provided me with drive and determination.  My other dream was to be an author of children’s books.    My mom still thinks I should pursue this avenue; however, I would rather be with the kids, reading the great books to them, rather than writing books for them.

So, I am a full-time mom of two teenagers, a wife, and a full-time special education kindergarten teacher!  On my days off, in between running my teens around and spending time with my friends, I enjoy going to the Jumpstart program run by the YMCA (and held at the former Center Street School) and spending time with the preschool age kiddos!  This is in part due to the lack of responsibility I have there~I get to read my favorite stories, do some of my favorite crafts, and teach using fun resources!  I also taught at CS school for several years before the district consolidation, and enjoy spending time in the place I loved teaching in for years.  Also, Miss Stacey is a good friend of mine, and we had the opportunity to teach together a bit last year, and I enjoy our teaching teamwork!

I had spent some time in the room with Stacey, met the kiddos, and couldn’t wait to enjoy more time with them.  My first theme I decided to cover was Penguins!  One of my favorite kindergarten themes, so I decided I would love to do it twice!  Enjoy the pictures of the children as we read the book Antarctica by Helen Cower.  We then had fun writing word problems to go with our penguin craft and we used water bottles to make our own Penguins!  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did!