Dr. Seuss | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Seuss’

This Photo Wants to be a Poem

Posted in Photography, Poetry, tagged Dr. Seuss, La Jolla, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on March 5, 2020| 14 Comments »

If you were in or close to any school on Monday, March 2nd, you may have seen kids dressed like Dr. Seuss characters. I had on a red t-shirt that said “Teacher One” and a bright blue feather hat. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The celebration has been turned into Read Across America Day.

With Dr. Seuss on my mind, I saw this image on Facebook, but I had no idea there was a connection. Katherine Conley, otherwise known as “Other Katherine” when she was roommates with my daughter Katherine, was vacationing in La Jolla, California. She told me that there are signs of Dr. Seuss everywhere as Theodor Geisel lived there for a time and was inspired by the landscape to create The Lorax. I won’t continue the rabbit hole I fell down, but if you care to, I found some information here.

Please leave a 15 word or less poem in the comments and leave comments for other writers. This is a low stress writing prompt. Just go with your gut. Whatever comes is worthy.

Sometimes I wear flowers.
Sometimes I sing.
Sometimes I just pause.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice Challenge #7: Dr. Seuss Quotes

Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Dr. Seuss on March 7, 2018| 4 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Continuing the celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, I pulled an idea out of my hat! Let’s write about Dr. Seuss quotes. A search for quotes was easy. They are everywhere. Not just here. Not just there. But everywhere!

Choosing a quote that spoke to you was easy. Or it was hard. Some students decided to take on rhyming. But with that decision, you have to consider rhythm too, so I found myself next to Trace beating out Ta-da-ta-da-dum on the table.

Some students went for prose. Some for poems. Some wrote their own quotes.

Once again, my students blew me away with their creativity, their depth of thought, and their imagination.

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”
― Dr. Seuss

Life is a cake,
You can make a pretty, delicious cake,
Or a boring, plain cake.

Fantasy is the icing on the cake,
Nonsense is the silly sprinkles.

Knowledge is the candle on the cake,
And smiles, smiles are the light, the flame.

Look!
It’s a wonderful, tasty cake!

–Lynzee, 3rd grade

(Click on her name to leave comments.)

“All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone is something you’ll be quite a lot!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and The Lorax

Alone,
not fun at all.
You look at the monstrous jungle,
while your comfort is lost in the sea.
The light in you is unfound.
Creeping around waiting for you to bite,
Like brim in a pond.
Then you actually get it on your hook,
you fight your emotions,
like the fish’s strength.
Then you reel it in,
and are filled with light.

–Austin, 6th grade (Click his name to leave comments on his post.)

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss quote? I love so many of them, but this is the one that spoke to me about this weird and crazy Slice of Life Challenge. We fall in mutual weirdness and call it Slice of Life!

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Slice of Seuss

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged criticyles, Dr. Seuss, The Lorax, writing workshop on February 21, 2017| 8 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.

It’s Dr. Seuss week at one of my schools, so each day is a different dress-up day. Last week I was sick for a few days and then there was the Beta convention, so I missed out on seeing some of my students all week. I wanted to plan better. I got so far as to order yellow mustaches and a used copy of The Lorax. I didn’t put together a full costume, but I let each student choose a mustache style. The rule was you had to wear your mustache while we read The Lorax. Little did I know the thing would tickle every time I spoke. But it made for a festive way to celebrate, nevertheless.

Mrs. Simon’s Loraxes

Following this selfie, we got down to the real business of criticycles. I want my students to be ready for the March Slice of Life Challenge. They’ve been writing a slice each week, but their writing lacks elaboration and interest. I pulled out the sticky notes. I projected a student’s recent post and asked that student to read aloud his/her writing. On the sticky notes, we made symbols for critiquing (+ for something positive, ^ for something to change, and ? for further questions). Following the criticycle session, my students were motivated to return to their posts and edit.

I had forgotten how powerful peer review can be. For whatever reason, we hadn’t done it in a while. My students were receptive to their classmates’ ideas and were motivated to make their writing stronger. I just stood by and watched as they discussed their writing in a meaningful way. I need to remember that sometimes all it takes is a yellow mustache and blue sticky note to turn readers into writers.

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Celebrating August

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, tagged Dr. Seuss, Heidi Mordhorst, Laura Purdie Salas, summer poem swap on August 8, 2015| 12 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

August oppresses me. I know I shouldn’t let it. But the heat and heaviness of the air gets to me. Yesterday was my anniversary. I’ve been married an amazing 33 years to the best guy in the whole world, but I was in no mood to celebrate. I was hot and tired. But then this came: a package and a poem.

Heidi Mordhorst sent me a poem. We are exchanging in the Summer Poem Swap designed by Tabatha Yeatts. Heidi visited Greece this summer. We had a connection because I went on a trip there 4 years ago. The image captures the amazing blue of the Aegean Sea. And her poem captures the magic. Thanks, Heidi, for lifting my soul.

Laura Purdie Salas is one of my favorite poets and teachers. She has a great website and has published a number of teacher aids for writing poetry with students. I can’t wait to share this newest publication with my students. Catch Your Breath: Writing Poignant Poetry.

School started this week. I haven’t started pulling my students yet, but I saw them and hugged them in the hallway. I love having this kind of connection with my kids. I teach them year after year, so our relationship strengthens each year.

At one of my schools, the year theme is reading and books. We all wore Dr. Seuss t-shirts on the first day. I love the quote on the back. Reading is magic. I strive again this year to open this magic door for my students.

What are you celebrating this week?

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Celebrate March!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged acrostic poetry, chalkabration, Dr. Seuss on March 7, 2015| 15 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

SOL #7

March has come in like a lion, and I have made it through the first week of the Slice of Life Challenge. Time to celebrate!

Some of my students missed Chalkabration last week. So we made winter acrostics. Lani, 3rd grade, says she’s not a poet and yet, she used the word metamorphosized!

Metamorphosized butterfly
Arrives vividly
Rising
Caterpillar
High flying.
by Lani

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! This is our brave librarian who dressed up every day this week as one of Dr. Seuss’s characters. We had special days to celebrate, crazy socks, crazy hair, and mismatched.

Jacob’s mother teaches across the hall from me. She occasionally texts me things he says. This text is an all time winner! My heart swells!

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Celebrate Slice of Life

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged books, Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss, reading, Scholastic Book Fair, teaching on March 1, 2014| 11 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge!

Celebrate #1: Happy March! Welcome to Slice of Life, a challenge to write every day in March sponsored by the Two Writing Teachers. This will be my third year to join in. My students are also slicing in March. We have a special class blog at kidblog for the Slice of Life Challenge. Since we will be out of school Monday through Wednesday of next week due to Mardi Gras, I encouraged them to get a jumpstart. Some did. Please stop by our site and make a comment. They love comments!

The Cat in the Hat visited the Book Fair! Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Celebrate #2: This week was the Scholastic Book Fair at my school. We also celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday. I added to my class library and enjoyed visiting with our librarian, Mrs. Armentor, otherwise known as “The Cat in the Hat.”

Have you read any of these books?

Celebrate #3: My students created a skit for Family Night. It was cute and clever, and they were terribly nervous. The skit was on the theme of bullying. They encouraged everyone to THINK before they speak.

Printable Poster Available:

Before You Speak Think

Celebrate #4: My oldest daughter had her 29th birthday. She went to San Francisco for the weekend to visit a close friend from high school. I wrote a poem for her from Laura Shovan’s color prompt at Author Amok.

29 year old
For Maggie, 2/24/14

Ballerina pink is not your color
as you take to the streets in an obsidian Lexus,
Independent,
daring,
bold
You fly to San Francisco. Run by the Golden Gate;
International orange looks good on you!
Undaunted, throw your hair to the wind—
Quick like silver, don’t look back.

–Margaret Simon

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