Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The Cat in the Hat Part 1


The Cat in the Hat Part 3


The Cat in the Hat Part 3

Magic Tree House Books

I know many children love the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. I went looking to see how one could create a curriculum using these books. I was thrilled when I found the Magic Tree House Classroom Club.

I've copied and pasted the information from their homepage below. Ignore all the 'teacher' and 'classroom' speak and see it as an inexpensive unit study or curriculum.

This is taken directly from their website:
"Welcome to the Magic Tree House Classroom Club!
The Magic Tree House series has been trusted by educators for over fifteen years! Our free Classroom Club offers you teachers guides by unit, printer-friendly activity sheets, an educational planner, and writing tips from Mary Pope Osborne herself.

Sign up for the Magic Tree House Classroom Club newsletter today and you will be the first to know about new books, resources, and author tour information.

NEW!

Activities Available!
Use the fiction and nonfiction together to meet paired selection criteria!
The Magic Tree House fiction adventures allow you and your students to step into a world of adventure. From England in the Middle Ages to the prairies of America to the moon, protagonists Jack and Annie make history and science fun by taking readers right there!
The companion Magic Tree House Research Guides give your students the facts behind the fiction by providing easy-to-digest information about the times, places, and cultures Jack and Annie visit in the Magic Tree House fiction adventures. The nonfiction research guides amplify the exciting subjects and include fun facts, photos, illustrations, definitions, and much more!
If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to magictreehouse@randomhouse.com"

The Gruffalo

Limericks

Since St. Patrick's Day is on March 17th and March is Irish-American Heritage month we have been trying to do some Irish inspired things this month. Even though our family probably has no Irish lines we still love all things Irish. Instead of going straight to Ireland (which I would really love to do some day soon!); we have been cutting out shamrocks and reading limericks.

Last Friday at our co-op I did a mini-lesson on limericks and read some limericks to the group. According to this really neat poster I found at a local teaching-supply store:

A limerick is a humourous five-line poem. It is made up of 13 beats and has a rhyme scheme of aabba. The poem is named after the city of Limerick, Ireland, although no ones knows how or where the form originated.

Here is a sample from the poster:

There was a young boy from Caboo,

Who had trouble tying his shoe.

He said to his ox,

"I'll just walk in my socks."

Now all of his friends do that, too!

For those that are interested: Lines 1, 2 and 5 each have three beats. Lines 3 and 4 have two beats.

I have a series of books that I picked up at a thrift store called, Childcraft. Several of the limericks I read to the group came from that series of books. I learned that Edward Lear, was a famous writer of limericks. His first book of poems, A Book of Nonsense (1846) contained over two hundred limericks. Here is one limerick from Edward Lear:

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, "It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren

Have all built their nests in my beard."

If you would like to write your own limerick:

The first line often includes the name of a place, you may wish to think of a verse that uses the name of your hometown, state or country.

This week's Poetry Round-up is being held at The Miss Rumphius Effect.