ELA

The teacher will place a Dr. Seuss stuffed toy in the center of each group. The students will take out their writing folder and write 4 sentences to describe the stuffed toy. They will be able to talk to their classmates about what they wrote. After about 10 minutes, the teacher will switch the stuffed toys to other tables and the students will get to write about the new stuffed toy they got. I am planning on having 4 student groups so this rotation will be repeated a total of 4 times.

This learning center can help the student reinforce their writing skills. The students will get to write about a character they have read about or seen in a movie. As they write about a character they are familiar with, they will be inspired to write a lot about what the character is like, what they like about them, what they don't like, and what their role in their book/movie is. The students will be excited to write instead of dreading the writing period in class.

Math

The students will have an activity sheet where they will use the comparing symbols to determine which side has more/less Truffula trees.  The students will each have an activity sheet with 4 word problems. The students will get to use manipulatives to visually represent the numbers they are presented with. When they determine which side has more/less Truffula trees, they will place the right greater than/less than symbol appropriately. 

Building off of my math lesson, this math learning center will serve as practice for students to practice comparing two numbers with the greater than/less than sign. The students will also practice working with manipulatives if they have trouble drawing circles. The activity sheet will have the theme of the Lorax so the students will be working with the characters from the book, "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. Each student will work on their activity sheet individually, but they are allowed to discuss their answers with their classmates to see if they are right or wrong. 

Student Artifacts for this Learning Center can be found in the Appendix page of this Google sites.

Science

The students will take turns in making sounds with different objects that the teacher provides for them. One student will stand behind a cardboard divider while the rest of the students sit on the other side. The student behind the cardboard divider will pick up an object provided by the teacher and make a sound with it (bang it, play it, rub it against the table, etc). The students on the other side will have to guess what that object is. This will help them use their hearing to try to guess the object making a noise. The students will take turns in making noises for their classmates to guess.

This learning center is not related to my science lesson, but it is related to a 1st grade science standard having to do with sound vibrations. The students will get to rely on their auditory sense and try to guess what the object on the other side of the cardboard divider is. The students will get to work in groups, but they do have to rely on theirselves first. They will get some thinking time (20 seconds) to try to guess what it is. After that, the students will get 30 seconds of discussing what they think made that noise and why they think it's that. At the end of the 30 seconds, the students will give one unanimous answer as to what the object is. If they get it wrong, they will get 2 more chances to guess what the object is.

Dramatic Play

The students will get to pretend to be Dr. Seuss. They will wear their author hat (silly hat that they will make) and talk about what kind of characters they would create and what their book would be about. The students will get to create their silly characters and think about what their book will be about. They will present it to the class and get to listen to their classmates' books and characters. 

This is a great activity for the students to use all that they've learned in the Dr. Seuss unit. They will combine their knowledge of Dr. Seuss characters and the stories to try and come up with their own character and story. The students will not be required to write a whole book, but they will get creative in thinking about what they would like their book to be about. The students will work independently for most of the activity, but they are more than welcome to brainstorm with their shoulder partner or share their ideas with their table. This will give opportunity for a lot of peer teaching. 

Fine Motor

The students will have an area where they will get to cut out different shapes provided for them. They will then use glue sticks to glue the cut-out pieces of paper onto a new paper to start creating their Whoville house. They will cutout squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles that they will use to create their village. This will get the students working with their hands and learning to control their hand movements as they cut the pieces of paper and glue them.

I wanted to do something related to The Grinch since my activity for Physical movement has to do with the Grinch. I decided to do something simple that they can take home. I cam across the idea of making a Whoville out of squares and circles, but I wanted something more personal. I then thought of how nice it would be for each student to create their own villa in Whoville. They could color it the way they wanted and put it together as they saw fit. The student will have to think back to the houses they have seen in Dr. Seuss books to get inspiration for their Whoville house. The house does not to be perfect in anyways. It can be whatever they want it to be. 

Art

The students will be given different templates to paint with wet paint. The students will use different colors and brushes to paint each template. After coloring each template, the students will then cut each template out and glue them to the appropriate place on the Air-balloon template. They will then have an air balloon where they can travel to all the places they'll go!

I thought of this activity as a sort of ending activity to the unit. The students will have read almost all of Dr. Seuss' books. They now know the creativity that Dr. Seuss had when writing his books and are hopefully inspired to be create in everything they do. This air balloon activity inspired by the book "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss will serve as a reminder of all the things they can accomplish in life with creativity and hard work. I also think it would be a great activity to use as a decoration on a bulletin board to show the result of our Dr. Seuss Unit.

Technology

The students will get some time to go get their Chrome books. They will get on the Cat in the Hat websites where there are many discovery activities for them to play on. The Cat in the Hat website is included in my technology resources and the students will be familiarized with their website by the end of the unit. 

What I love about this website is how it has activities for every subjects they see in school. It has art activities, STEM activities, ELA games, and games that go along with holidays. They can continue their learning even when they are given time to spend on technology. Even in their free time, Dr. Seuss created a curious character who encourages everyone to explore everything! This will mostly be an individual activity, but I am sure that the students will love to share their discoveries and their achievements with their friends and classmates.