Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In honor of the good Dr. Seuss' birthday Ava paraded around this morning wearing her cat hat. It thrilled her to pieces once she realized that her hat and the one the cat wears are identical! She has been caring around the Cat in the Hat for a couple weeks and is currently her favorite. I find that plush book characters help to extend the story beyond the pages and really encourage building Narrative Skills. Ava's cat has been involved in all sorts of adventures including a trip through the Ikea store in Cincinnati.

All week Ava and her friends will be enjoying stories and activities that celebrate the work of Dr. Seuss - green eggs and ham for breakfast (Green Eggs and Ham), making hats, feet painting (The Foot Book), apple prints (Ten Apples Up On Top), and decorating fish (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish). There are many other fun activities to help make the stories pop off the page. Visit Seussville for even more fun!

Of course no celebration would be complete without the great books by Dr. Seuss. Here is a brief list of our favorites:

And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street

The Cat in the Hat

Fox in Socks

Green Eggs and Ham

Hop on Pop

Horton Hears a Who

The Lorax

My Many Colored Days

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

These books have endured generations because of the impact they have on young readers. Not only are the silly and memorable but they pave the way for success as readers.

Happy Birthday. Dr. Seuss!

A is for Ava

Lately we have been enjoying all things ABC! Ava has taken an interest in pointing out letters (and numbers) and to my great pleasure she has begun recognizing several with frequency. One of her favorite toys at home is the magnetic alphabet letters. The set we have has the chunky letters and numbers which are perfect for little hands to manipulate. The set also comes with word cards indented to insert the letter for the beginning of each word. We name the image and sometimes spell the words. This activity has spilled over into our reading habits.

There are many, many alphabet books. Some that are excellent and many others that are not. At 20 months we are focusing on alphabet books that prominently feature the letter and one image. While reading we trace the letter and talk about the imagine (this also includes making the appropriate animal sounds). When looking for ABC books for my toddler I am looking for interesting illustrations that lack clutter. The ABC books on our shelf right now are Bruno Munari's ABC, Little Bird's ABC by Piet Grobler, and Eric Carle's ABC.