The Cat in the Hat

At the end of my Friday afternoon I sighed to my colleague across the hall, “on my death certificate have them list under cause of death: Cat In The Hat.  As we laughed, we wondered, how did it get to be March already?  We’ve had so many days off, five February snow days this year, I’ve had to turn away from things I usually do in February.  But as we begin to celebrate Reading Month, I wanted to recognize Dr. Seuss. 

The morning started off crazy.  We had a PTO fundraising event and my Young 5’s class was scheduled for 8:15.  We returned from the rock wall climb, basketball shoot and other events to eat cupcakes at 9:00 a.m.  I’m pretty sure there was no T in that PTO decision!  In fact I could testify to that.

Since the Instructional Aide who helps with my writing time, is out with pregnancy complications I opted to, dare I admit it here, skip writing time.  We finished calendar, and I shared a new magazine subscription I’d bought for the class.  Ranger Rick Jr. was a hit, or at least the pictures of Rhinos were.

When we returned from lunch I hurriedly passed out two parts of the cat, intending to finish later when the class returned from library.  As I thought out the process, and counted the pieces,  I opted to have the class begin our free play time while I pulled groups of 6 to work together. 

As we cut, glued and positioned I had a clear understanding of which children knew the position words, under, over and between!  I also had a clear understanding that I should have had a parent help!  As dismissal time got closer and closer I hurriedly got the last hat rim attached.  The final names were written and we rushed to dress for bus pickup. 

As I later stood in the hall and admired the not quite straight red strips and the crooked noses and oddly shaped heads I celebrated the beauty of children's art.  What’s that saying? If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.