Mixed Up Monday

Today was the first day of our Dr. Seuss Week, a week filled with wonderfully wacky themes and literature. Today was Mixed-Up Monday, for which we got to wear our pajamas to school It was a wonderful day of reading and literacy games/activities. We spent our morning reading block with Dr. Seuss' ABC and played Alphabet Bingo. I gave prizes (bubbles) out to the winners, which added an element of excitement, and afforded me an opportunity to talk about graceful losing and playing for fun.

Side note: I know a lot of teachers who try and make everything fair/equal for their students, especially in the lower grades. I've never been a fan of that philosophy; I think it is setting children up for even bigger disappointment later in life. In my opinion, it's better to learn how to deal with it in smaller situations (bingo), so that bigger situations (losing a national competition) are not as shocking/damaging to a child's self-esteem.

In the afternoon, we read Hop on Pop and Fox in Socks, and had all kinds of fun with rhymes, not to mention some much needed practice. This year, we have found rhyming to be a very difficult skill to master. We topped off our afternoon with a Dr.Seuss Rhyme Match game, which everyone enjoyed thoroughly. Of course, it made it so much better that we were in our pajamas. Seriously, who else gets the privilege of going to work in pajamas?

I love my job!