RHYMING With Green Eggs & Ham

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do!  I like them, Sam-I-am!

Research shows rhyme is powerful, and even essential to learning!  I think Dr. Seuss was brilliant when he wrote his books.  As children are introduced to rhymes at a very young age they may not be aware of the correct terms in the rhyme, but they find the rhymes enjoyable and fun!  As the child progresses into reading, the books that use simple rhymes are a perfect place for a child to feel successful and improve their skills.  Repetition and rhyme give way to rhythm, recognition and memorization, all of which have a HUGE impact on children learning to read.

St. Patricks Day is now 4 DAYS AWAY!  My kids have been looking forward to the silliness of that day for weeks.  One book that I suggest in my Number Neighborhood Activity Book under number 14's Green Day theme is:

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

{I absolutely LOVE this book}

We pulled off a little green eggs and ham on the home front today.  

The kids had a blast helping me!  I like to make green eggs and ham for my preschool class on St. Patty's day.  I found a little eggs-tremely tasty recipe to follow HERE.  OR you can follow our 6 easy picture instructions below.

Step one: 

Notice all my little helping hands!  Oops!  I see a some on the counter there.  It's okay, we're just learning how to crack eggs. ;)

Step two:

Stir away little one.

Step three:

Even a little butter in the pan.  I feel like I'm on the Food Network!

Step four:

Lookin good guys!

Step five:

At this point you may wonder if this is edible.  

Step Six:

It was like I was giving them birthday cake!

We had a blast making something AND reading together!  You can easily tie Green Eggs and Ham into more of your E week activities.  Dr. Seuss's book Horton Hears a Who is about the cutest Elephant book around.  I found this craft a while ago from Catholic Icing  and I want to use it this year!

Another Egg-stremly cool rhyme for E Day is 

Willoughby, Wallaby Woo

Willoughby, Wallaby Wee

An elephant sat on me.

Willoughby, Wallaby Woo

An elephant sat on you!

(continue with pattern using words that rhyme with each child's name)

Willoughby, Wallaby (Wuzzie)

An elephant sat on (Suzzie)

Willoughby, Wallaby (Wed)

An elephant sat on (Ted)!

We just giggle with this cute little thing!  I think that is egg-sactly all I have for today.  Link up to me on my other social media sites and share what good ideas you are using too!

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Leprechaun Craft & Fourteen Wears All Green!

The anticipation is in the air!  My kids always ask...So what is next?!  I love that we have something fun to look forward to.  Here comes St Patty's Day!  

We do fun things around here at preschool.  We set up traps to catch Mr. Leprechaun.  We watch mysterious things turn green.  We talk about lucky things.  What do you do to have fun on St. Patricks Day?

Today my easy peasy mac and cheesy leprechaun craft is ready to show you his favorite number...Number 14!  (It's weird I know, he packs this book around everywhere)

In the Number Neighborhood Flip Chart ,the basis of my number teaching tools, Number 14 gets SO excited for St. Patrick's Day.  In Number 14's story Number 4 (remember him?--- 4 builds a door) meets up with his friend, a Teen.  Teen needed help building a Leprechaun trap, and 4 jumped at the chance to help.  Together, wearing GREEN, they become number 14!  

This story gets the kids excited about 14, wearing green, and leprechauns!

Don't forget there is another super GREEN activity found in the Number Neighborhood Activity book that is now available as an eBook HERE.

We decided to build a leprechaun trap of our own.  Legend says that this mischievous little guy spends his days making shoes and storing away all his coins in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  If ever captured by a human, the leprechaun has the magical power to grant 3 wishes in exchange for their release.  

We all think that 3 wishes sound fantastic!  So we gathered together and created a plan to capture this little guy.  Complete with a trail of sugar to our trap..this may be the year of our success!

 Ohhh Mr. Leprechaun!  Come out and play with us!  

While we waited for our Leprechaun to be trapped, (because we had made a fool proof trap for sure) we went inside and got busy crafting.  

11 steps to Leprechaun Craft

1st I needed my simple supplies.  Green paper, white pre-traced head and hands, glue and crayons.  

2nd I had the children fold the paper into 4 equal parts.  With paper horizontal, (hamburger way: short and fat.   NOT hotdog way: tall and skinny) First fold in half, then half again.  

3rd, Open the paper up and fold in half, from the bottom to the top.  Now you have 8 rectangles.  

4th I have the child cut bottom left rectangle and bottom right rectangle out.

5th Fold right side into center and left side into center to create a jacket.  Fold the corners down making a lapel.  

6th, Glue the cut out rectangles to the back side of the jacket to create arms.

7th, Fold up the bottom to make a little cuff.  Tiny little leprechaun cuff!

8th, Cut out the white circle and ovals for head and hands.

9th, have the child color a face on the leprechaun.  

10th, Glue head and hands onto the little man. i.e. Mr. Jade Gold-Digger.

11th, Have the child cut a simple hat from green paper .  

Easy huh?  My kids play with him for days!

It's especially fun to ask the child what their wish would be once they caught the leprechaun.  You can either be their scribe, have them write on their own, or, like I did, a combo of both!

I think 1,000,000 in coins would be great too!  Could I make that silver dollars?!

Happy teaching everyone!  

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