The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

Classic Dr. Seuss full of rhymes and silliness. But really, this is a good book to use when you want to talk about letting someone into the house when your parents are not home.

Materials

5 copies of the hat to color and one copy of the cat
Bag of puff balls , a Timer, Tongs
A set of rhyming word cards
Box of cornstarch and red food coloring
Simple kite for each child. Paper, yarn, ribbon, and 2 straight straws or sticks. https://www.instructables.com/Easy-Paper-Kite-for-Kids/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A55bwVVDQTU

Vocabulary

Safety (to be protected from danger)
Stranger (someone person or animal that you do not know or have not been introduced to)

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that you want to talk to them about safety today. Ask them what they think being safe means? Explain that there are lots of things that are unsafe in the world. Allow the children to comment if they choose. Tell them that today you want to spend a moment talking about strangers. Do the children know what a stranger is? Explain that sometimes there are strangers who are not kind to children and so it is important that you do not go with them or let them fool you into getting into a car with them or eating food that they give you. If your parent or teacher says it is ok, then you may go. But if someone just walks or drives up to you say “No,no I won’t go”! Have the children practice saying this loudly. Tell them that today’s story is about a stranger that the children let into the house. Ask the children if they think this is a good idea, why/why not? Let’s read the story and find out what happens.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Reading the Story

As you turn to page 1, ask the children if they can tell what kind of a day it is? On page 6, stop and ask the children if they should let a stranger into the house? What do you think might happen? On page 29 where the cat introduces the box, ask the children to guess what they think is inside? On page 61, ask the children what would you do? and allow them to respond.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

Remind the children about stranger danger. Do not go with a stranger and do not let a stranger into your house unless your parent says it is ok.

Make copy of the Cat in the Hat items and cut around each. Make a loop of masking tape to attach each to a board or wall where all the children can see. Cover the board and take away one object. Turn it back for the children to see and tell which object is missing.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

If your children are capable of sitting for a few minutes more, play the video Stranger Danger for them. If not schedule it into another part of your day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A55bwVVDQTU

Discovery

Make oobleck ahead of time and put it out with cookie sheet for the children to experiment with.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

Teach the children, The Cat Came Back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE8gsYejpQc. Make up a simple verses and have the children help sing the chorus. There was a man who lived in Raleigh, the cat got out and the man said golly. But the cat came back…..

Sing What Are You Wearing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Z8euLE5Fw Have the children follow the directions. Make one last verse about wearing stripes.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.

Sing Rhyming Words Sound the Same to Looby Loo

Rhyming words sound the same. Rhyming words sound the same. Rhyming words sound the same, Rhyming words sound the same. Hold up a rhyming words picture and see if the children can make a word that rhymes with it. (cat=hat, boy=toy, frog=log)

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Blocks

As the children play with the blocks today, encourage them to put the blocks away by like kinds. If you have not already done so, label your block shelves so the children learn to sort as they cleanup.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to determine whether or not if two blocks are the same size and shape.

Art

Make simple kites and decorate. Depending upon the skill of your children, you might want to make some or all of the kites ahead of time. Let the children decorate the kite with stickers or markers. Remind the children what happened in the story when the things flew kites in the house. Tell the children that you will take the kites outside when you go to the playground.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing , drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various forms of technology. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple=step directions.

Library and Writing

Make a copy of the picture showing “The sun did not shine”. Ask each child to tell you something they like to do on rainy or very cold wet days. Write their responses on a piece of paper and hang it on the wall under the picture. (I watch tv, My cat sleeps with me, My brother and me made a tent).

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with puff balls. Explain to the children that you are going to have a puff ball race. When the timer begins they will use the tongs to pick up puff balls and put them in a basket. When the timer stops they will count how many puff balls they were able to pick up in the alloted time. Set the time for one-minute.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Dramatic Play

Remind the children that in the story, the cat picked up all his playthings. Encourage the children to really clean and organize the center today. Give them damp paper towels to wipe down the shelves and challenge them to put all the toys away where they belong. As they work, keep an eye out for broken or ripped items that should be thrown away.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Approaches to Learning; Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions.

Math and Manipulatives

Tell the children that the cat’s hat had stripes on it. Cut out many strips of construction paper for the children to make and copy patterns with.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Set out a balance scale and one-inch cubes. Challenge the children to put a item into one side of the scale and then add one-inch cubes to the other until they are balanced. How many one inch cubes equal a toy car, a wooden rectangle block, a paintbrush, etc.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area.

Outdoor Play

In the story the cat balanced on the ball. Encourage the children to practice their own balance. Can the walk on a balance beam or the edge of the sandbox? Can they stand and hop on one foot? Can they walk on clomper stompers without falling off?

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills;shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Bring your art kites outside for the children to run with.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills;shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Transitions

Make 5 copies of the hat to color. On each one make the colors of the stripes white and ________(one red, one blue, one green, etc. of colors that you are working on. Put the hats in the center of the circle and have a child hide their eyes. Put the cat under one of the hats so that it is hidden. The child must guess which hat the cat is under by naming the color of the stripes. You can also write letters of the alphabet on the hats, numbers, or shapes depending upon which concept you are working on.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation;develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Resources

Use one of these pictures to start ideas for library and writing

Old Black Fly, by Jim Aylesworth

Old black fly is buzzin around and annoying everybody in the kitchen. This alphabet book will have all the children repeating, “Shoo fly, shoo fly, shoo!”

Materials

Two clean fly swatters
Several old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks

Vocabulary

Shoo (go away!)

Before Reading the Story

Show children a fly swatter. Does anyone know what this is? When do you see flies? Explain that flies land on food and throw up a tiny bit of liquid that they then suck up through their straw like mouth, yuck! They also walk all over your food with dirty feet. Because their feet are dirty, they can make you sick. If a fly comes near your food, use your hands to move him away and say “Shoo fly, shoo fly shoo!” Let the children practice this several times.

Reading the Story

Tell the children when you get to the parts that say “Shoo fly shoo fly shoo!” you need them to help.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and poetry.

As you turn each page, point to the letter and see if the children can name it.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

After Reading the Story

Go back through and point out the letter on each page and ask the children what went with it (O=olive oil).

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; associates sounds with written words, such as awareness that different words begin with the same sound.

Discovery

Find an old dead fly and put it into a sealed container (bug catcher, empty cassette case) and let the children examine it with magnifying glasses. Do you see its two eyes? Do you see the hairs on its legs? How many legs does the fly have? What are those things on his back? For older children encourage them to draw what they see.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

As an extended activity, take a container of milk and put it someplace out of the way. This should be at room temperature so that the children can hypothesize what will happen and then observe the milk over a period of a week. Each day carefully pull it down and let the children talk about the changes that are occurring. Can they predict what is going to happen to the milk?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences.

Music and Movement

Put on the video of Flick a Fly and let the children dance along with the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgPKQKa4U9E

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns and beat in music.

Sing the alphabet song. Sing it starting off in a whisper voice getting louder and louder. Sing it in a loud voice getting softer and softer. Use this same effect using classroom instruments. Point to each letter on your alphabet chart as you sing.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Blocks

Challenge the children to make alphabet letters using the blocks. You might want to use a dry erase board to show the shape of several letters at a time. It is easiest to begin with capital letters as there are more straight lined letters. With the help of a teacher, four year olds can begin to write their names using blocks.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Art

Show the children the cover of the book and the spray that is following the fly. Tell the children that you are going to make spray using paint. Put out several bowls of colored paint. Give the children old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks. Show them how to scrape the Popsicle stick against the toothbrush to make the paint spatter onto their paper.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety if ways for creative expression and representation. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Sand and Water

Fill the table up with sand. Put magnet letters in and mix it all up. Let the children sift through the sand in search of the letters. Can they name them? Can they make a word that begins with the letter sound?

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge;identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Library and Writing

Encourage the children to write or trace alphabet letters. If you do not have large letters, find punch out ones at the local Dollar Store that the children can trace around.

Literacy/Early Writing;progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name. AND Physical Health & Development; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Dramatic Play

Kitchen play today. Can the children sort all the foods that must go in the refrigerator from those that do not have to go in the refrigerator? Ask what do you think would happen if you did not refrigerate the food?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Math and Manipulatives

Use food cards to sort those that need refrigeration and those that do not.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Outdoor Play

Bring your fly swatters outside and with chalk write the letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk. Hold up a letter written on an index card or piece of paper. The children then must find it on the sidewalk and swat it with their swatter. Ask them if they can name the letter. If not, say the letter name and have them repeat swatting the letter again. This game needs to be controlled and works best with two children at a time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name. AND SOcial & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops an increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns using materials and in games; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Transitions

Same activity as outdoor play but in the classroom. Use 26 paper plates on the floor. For younger children only put out 5 paper plates at a time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds

Resources

Dear Parent,

Learning letter names is hard work for children. You can help them by learning the most important letters first, those in their name. Write your child’s name on a piece of paper and encourage him or her to copy it. As you and they write the letters, name them and encourage your child to repeat back to you. Once your child has mastered his/her first name, work on your last name or the names of other family members. The idea is to get your child to see, write, and name letters.

Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett

This is a varied version of the classic gingerbread man. You could read both and compare or just read this one and enjoy. Jan Brett draws beautiful illustrations with many details and clues of what’s to come. This book encourages the reader to do good observations.

Materials

A bag of gingerbread cookies
2 bags of cotton balls
Gingerbread baby shape

Vocabulary

Worn-looking (old and kind of beat up from use)
Peek (look inside to see how what’s in there is doing)
Pranced (jump all around)
Delicious (yummy)
Smug (Feeling very proud of self)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they have ever helped to bake cookies? What are some of the steps you have to do, where do you put the cookies to cook? Say to the children let’s pretend to bake cookies. First we have to get a great big bowl to put all the ingredients into. Walk them through the steps from mixing in the bowl to putting on the tray, cooking in the oven, taking out of the oven, and putting them on the rack to cool. Now let’s eat them, yummy. Ask the children what kind of cookies they made? Ask the children if they have ever eaten gingerbread? Tell them that today’s story is about a gingerbread cookie. Introduce the book.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Reading the Story

When Matti opens the cookbook for a second time, ask the children what do you think he is looking for? When Martha and Madeline tried to catch the gingerbread baby by the well, what do you think happened? When Matti says he will catch the gingerbread baby, ask how do you think he will do this? When you get to the page where the fox is smacking his lips, ask the children if they think he will catch the gingerbread baby. Note the side pages, ask the children what they think Matti is doing?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

How did the gingerbread baby get out of the oven? Ask the children to see if they can remember the order of the characters in the story. Who chased the gingerbaby first, second, third, next?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Discovery

Let the children taste a gingerbread cookie. Ask the children to describe how the cookie tastes, write their responses down. Make a graph of those who like gingerbread and those who do not like gingerbread.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to use standard and non-standard measures. AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Music and Movement;\

Do the Gingerbread Baby finger play. Hold one hand out, palm up. Use the other hand to be the gingerbread babies. Start with 5 fingers laying on the palm and take one away with each verse.

Five little gingerbread men laying on the tray,

One jumped up and ran away.

Catch me, catch me, catch me if you can

I can run fast I’m the gingerbread man!

(Go down to one)

No more gingerbread men laying on the tray,

They all jumped up and ran away.

Next time I’ll eat them before they run away!

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Blocks

Cut out a handful of gingerbread babies in various colors. Encourage the children to build homes for the gingerbread babies using the blocks.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

Roll out play dough and use cookie cutters to make cookies. (Wood cylinder blocks work as rolling pins if your center has none).

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Have the children cut out the gingerbread baby shapes and let them decorate them however they choose.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; develops increased ability to make independent choices.

Library and Writing

Show the children how to make a simple home with a square and a triangle roof. Let them use markers or colored pencils to decorate. On the bottom of the page write, I’m the gingerbread baby who is lucky as can be because ______made a house just for me!

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take apart shapes. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including, pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various technology.

Sand and Water

Put small people in the table and cotton balls. Show the children how to rip the cotton balls apart to make a winter scene.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Dramatic Play

Pretend to bake delicious things in the oven.

Creative Arts/ Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

Cut out 10 gingerbread baby patterns that are about 6-inches tall and let the children use them to measure items in the room. How many gingerbread babies tall are they, the table, the carpet?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects.

Outdoor Play

Tell the children that you are going to play gingerbread man. The children can take on the different rolls and they can all run around one behind the other. As the children run around sing out “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!”.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

As the children go to their next activity, give them directions on how to get there. (Kerry, hop, hop as fast as you can; Roger, jump, jump as fast as you can; Tammie,tip toe, tip toe as fast as you can)

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.