Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Principal ponderings...
Did you know that yesterday would have been Dr. Seuss's 110th birthday?!  It's amazing to think that more than 20 years have gone by since his passing, yet his books are still loved and read by millions of children around the world and right here at Florence Roche.  For those of you who haven't been in my office in a while, here is a picture of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes that I have on my wall:

Here are some interesting facts that I learned while reading about Dr. Seuss this weekend...

• His full name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.
• He was not a medical doctor.  In his words, "I put the 'Dr' on the 'Seuss' to make me sound more professorial."
• Green Eggs and Ham was written after his publishers dared him to try to write a book using only 50 different words.  Hmmm...what if we tried a dare like that with our students?!
• When he wrote for a humor magazine in New York, he did not always get paid in cash.  One time he was paid 100 cartons of shaving cream and hundreds of nail clippers.  Were they trying to tell him something?!
• The Butter Battle Book was written during the Reagan administration and was inspired by the Cold War.
• The decision to put a hat on a cat may have come from Seuss's love of hats.  He has a large collection of hats that are actually touring the country right now.  For another week you can see them in Northhampton!

And here are a few great quotes from Dr. Seuss...

(So hard to just select a few!)

Happy reading everyone! :)

Oh and speaking of reading...I am working with a community member who wants to help us with our school library.  Judy Anderson who volunteers in our library is working to set up an Amazon link where parents and/or community members could go on the site and purchase books to donate to our library.  Teachers, the first step is I am asking all of you to send me a wish list of books that you would like to see available in our school library. 

Currently reading:
I am still working on finishing up The Mighty Miss Malone.  I love that the Malone family motto is "We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful."  Pretty amazing for a family to have that motto when it's 1936 and the Great Depression has hit them.  Currently on my bedside table is the book Nonfiction Mentor Texts.
 I have been skimming through this book to see what books we need to add to classroom libraries and our school library.  I also pulled out a picture book I got last year to read more closely...Mossy by Jan Brett.  This beautifully illustrated book is about a turtle named Mossy who has a garden growing on her shell.  It is a story about "love, loyalty and home."  Let me know if you want to borrow it to share with your class!

Events this week:
**This week one of our Brownie troops has organized a food drive for Loaves and Fishes.  Donations will be collected in the front lobby.
Monday - 2nd PPS finalist will be in the district today to meet with staff and parents.
Tuesday - Author Cynthia Lord will be visiting our school, 1/2 presentation @ 9:30 in the PAC, 3/4 presentation @ 11:00 in the PAC, 2nd grade and multi-age chorus concert @ 7:00 in the PAC (make-up from snow day)
Wednesday - 1st grade chorus practice in the gym @ 2:25, Staff meeting @ 3:30
Thursday - Kindergarten Orientation @ 6:30 in the gym
Friday - End of trimester 2

Great things I noticed last week:

• 4th graders in Mrs. Nissi's class were doing some great brainstorming to think about developing superhero characters for their writing.  Thanks to the visiting author who was guiding them through the exercises.  Didn't have my camera with me to snap a shot!
• Students in Mrs. Jacques class were working on transferring their penguin facts to display posters. 
• I caught Mrs. Smith working with some 4th graders on division.  And they were successfully using all the correct steps of long division.
• I shared some of my picture books with Mrs. Guernsey's class...The Day the Crayons Quit and Little Red Writing.  Below is a picture of some of the writing that students in her class did using the same idea of perspective writing of inanimate objects. 
• The school enjoyed watching the play preview on Wednesday.
• When I popped into Mrs. Spiczka's class, I saw a student doing some great math equations on his own.  He and I had a discussion about the number line and how he sees the numbers that come before zero!
  
  
  
  
  

Check it out:
Here is link with 100 of the best educational games for iPads: http://www.teachthought.com/technology/100-best-educational-games-ipad/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A principal who I follow and often chat with through twitter or podcasts: http://www.principalj.net/sharing-reading-in-the-wild/

8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3586





And I'll leave you with this thought...