 This Dr. Seuss classic is such a delight! Some of the children were familiar with this story as they had seen the movie. They knew it had a happy ending and that the grumpy Grinch would find the spirit of Christmas! The Grinch lived on top a hill which looked down on the town of Whoville! The Whos loved Christmas and every year for the last 53 years the Grinch cringed every time the season came around. “Then he got an idea. An awful idea. The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea” He decided that he would take Christmas away. He would dress up like Santa and instead of delivering presents he would go down the chimney and remove all things "Christmas" from every house in Whoville! "And the one speck of food that he left in the house was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse. Then he did the same thing to the other Whos' houses: leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos' mouses! " But alas, even though the Grinch had taken everything Christmas away he found that the Whos still had their cheer. "But this... this sound wasn't sad. Why... this sound sounded glad. Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, was singing, without *any* presents at all! He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, it *came*! Somehow or other... it came just the same." The story ends with the great lesson that "Maybe Christmas...doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!" The children loved hearing about the Grinch's change of heart. They were excited to know that the Grinch would finally enjoy Christmas. After story time we did our learning is fun exercise, went outside for a little play and then went straight to pizza and a movie! Of course we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon version) and Horton Hears a Who! The children were then treated to face painting while I put their learning exercises together in a little keepsake book. Each child received a hard covered copy of the book Oh the Things You Can Think by Dr. Seuss. I cannot end these series of posts without giving thanks to Aunty Christianna and Aunty Summer for all their hard work and assistance during this last week! They were simply awesome! Thank You! Thank You also to all the parents who chose The Reading Garden to entertain their children for the week! ALL the children were exceptional and I enjoyed every one of them! Here are some pictures.
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 This book is perhaps my favourite Dr. Seuss book! The lesson is repeated over and over “A person's a person no matter how small!" Some of the children had seen the movie for this book and so they were very familiar with the story. They already knew which parts they did not like and best of all they knew that Horton would save Whoville! While splashing in a pool Horton, the elephant, hears a tiny yelp for help! He is not sure where it came from but because he is a kind and gentle soul he ensures that he finds the source. He soon discovers that the voice is coming from a tiny speck of dust. On top the speck of dust in a village called Whoville. The mayor of Whoville speaks to Horton asking him to protect the tiny village. Horton happily agrees! Unfortunately, protecting Whoville will not be an easy task as all the animals in the jungle seem to think that Horton is crazy! The sour Kangaroo and her baby, the Wickersham brothers (three monkeys) and Vlad Vladikoff the vulture make Horton's job of protecting Whoville a very difficult one. Eventually the animals decide that Horton is crazy and they should lock Horton away and throw the clover in boiling Beezelnut oil. Horton pleads with the Mayor of Whoville to let their voices be heard. The entire village makes noise hoping to be heard by the other animals but no luck! Finally the Mayor makes a check and discovers that one young Who is not making a contribution to the noise. The Mayor demands that he make his contribution and his tiny YOPP makes all the difference! The other animals hear the Whos and decide to join Horton in protecting Whoville. The children seemed fascinated by the idea of a tiny village that could exist on something as small as a speck of dust and they clearly heard the message of "A person's a person no matter how small!” After story time we did our usual Learning is Fun exercise and then on to Crafty Me! I was very proud of the older girls today. The craft was a little tedious for them as they had to build their message from printed letters. It took them a little while but they did it and they were proud! Take a look! Tomorrow is the last day and I can't wait to put together the Christmas with Dr. Seuss books and let the children enjoy a well-deserved treat!  "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It's not!" The children really enjoyed this story and followed it quite well. The Lorax tells the tale of the Once-ler who discovers new land that is beautiful and fertile. He builds a beautiful house and cuts down one Truffula tree to make a Thneed (an article of clothing that can be used as anything). He promises the Lorax that it will only be one tree but after successfully selling the Thneed he calls his family and they begin to mass produce Thneeds. There are grave repercussions! All the native creatures are now unable to survive because there are not many trees left and the Thneed factory is polluting the air and water! The Lorax speaks for the trees! He pleads with the Once-ler to stop but the Once-ler doesn't care! He is only concerned about "Biggering"! Eventually ALL the Truffula trees are cut down and the Thneed factory closes. All that is left is a smog filled, barren land and a stone with the word UNLESS written on it. The Once-ler never understood why the Lorax wrote the word UNLESS on the stone before leaving. It is only after telling the story that the Once-ler understands that "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It's not!" With that realization the Once-ler gives the last Truffula seed to the little boy to whom he is telling the story and the reader is left with the hope that the land will thrive again! The children had so many things to say: "The Once-ler doesn't have Jesus in him!" "He is greedy and only thinking about money!" "If he tried to sell me a Thneed I would NOT buy it!" "They have to plant more trees!" "He loves money...he promised only one tree and then he cut all!" "We need trees, they make clean air!" I LOVE when children "get it"! I LOVE when they are engaged! I LOVE complex lessons that are simplified! I LOVE Dr. Seuss! We quickly moved to our Learning is Fun session followed by our Crafty Me session. Today we made the Lorax!  "From here to there, from there to here funny things are everywhere!" I have to admit that this book got a bit confusing for some of the little ones. I mean...what kinds of things are these? A Mike, A Wump, A Yink that drinks pink ink! lol....As we got further into the book I decided to get the kids back by asking them to complete the sentences, after all it is a book of rhymes. I have to say they quite enjoyed their ability to predict Dr. Seuss' next word! The ease with which the children were able to predict the next word, if they are listening, is one of the reasons I love Dr. Seuss. He makes writing seem so simple...and every book can easily be danced to! :) The children then sat to do learning exercises of varying difficulty, depending on their age. Some coloured a fish and some created a graph with fish they chose from the fish envelope! You will see those on Friday! In the afternoon we did a fish craft! Presenting the amazing moveable paper fish!!  "The Cat in the Hat should not be here at all!" This book is all about Dr. Seuss' most famous character The Cat in the Hat! The children enjoyed listening to this rhythmic story during story time under the Truffula trees. The Cat in the Hat is a stranger who visits two children who were having a really dreary day. He attempts to entertain the children by doing crazy things and ends up making a huge mess. All the while the fish in the bowl is protesting, telling the children that their mother would NOT like the Cat in the Hat in the house while she is out. When mother arrives the cat quickly cleans his mess and disappears but the children wonder should they tell their mother that the cat was there? After the story I asked the children if they should let strangers in the house..."NO!!" Then I asked each of them "Would you tell your mother that the cat was there?" Most of them said yes...a few said no. Then one little girl said "If you don't tell mommy you will get in MORE trouble!" lol :)...you HAVE to love kids! We then did a simple rhyming exercise. The children wrote 5 words that rhyme on a hat and coulred it. At craft time we made the cat in the hat! You have to wait until Friday to see their Christmas with Dr. Seuss book but here is a peak at their craft and mine :). |
