March is National Reading Month!

To celebrate National Reading Month, we incorporated reading, literacy and Dr. Seuss into many of our free, purposeful programs this month!

In Language, Music, ‘N Our Peeps (LMNOP), we made sure to read and explore books every Tuesday morning together, as well as our one Saturday together. We worked on looking at books independently, learning to turn pages and point to pictures in books, naming the picture vocally with our words or with a sign. Some of the signs we worked on learning this month were: cat, hat, egg, green, ham, and more. We also worked on listening to books read aloud to us by Miss Alisha, our parents, older siblings and other volunteers. We read I am Sam I Am. We also explored pretend green eggs and ham, working on cracking open green plastic eggs to reveal green eggs inside. We also tried eating real green eggs and ham.  We also held book characters that went with books, like the Cat in the Hat, Horton the elephant and more. We sat in and explored a Dr. Seuss sensory bin of pom poms and Truffula trees. Miss Alisha, Miss Maddy and Bella dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 to lead LMNOP! We also got our picture taken at a fun photo booth with books and book characters.

In Leaps and Bounds, we read Mr. Brown Can Moo by Dr. Seuss and worked on making each sound from the book. Some of us made the sounds in the microphone. We also explored a Dr. Seuss rice sensory bin. We made sure to read books together. We also did Cat in the Hat cup stacking and made a red striped hat.

In Destination Discovery, Miss Alisha and Miss Maddy dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and read Green Eggs and Ham to us! We also all went to our Playhouse library and read books with our families. We used a spatula to flip over green eggs with letters and pictures on them to practice our letters, sounds and words. We also played Dr. Seuss matching games, Cat in the Hat cup and plate stacking games, and completed a Write the Room Dr. Seuss activity. We also tried eating real green eggs and ham. Some of us liked it and some of us did not.

In 1:1 tutoring sessions throughout the week, tutors prioritized reading with their students, mixing in Dr. Seuss books, in addition to preferred book that would encourage them to read. Students were given Seuss-tastic Reader certificates at the end of the tutoring session to celebrate their achievements. Kynleigh’s tutor, Jen, shares this Best of All moment: “Kynleigh had her best session so far! She worked through the whole session without traditional toys. She requested books as her reinforcer.” We’re proud of you Kynleigh!

In GiGi Prep, we all brought in our favorite book we are reading right now and shared it with the group. Some of us even read some of it aloud to the group. Some of our favorite books we brought were: High School Musical, Hannah Montana, The Book with No Pictures, Descendants, and more. We also made our own bookmarks by coloring, cutting them out, laminating them, cutting them out again, hole punching them and putting a string through them.  In group speech with Maddy during GiGi Prep, she read us some of Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Suess and each participant worked on choosing smaller steps to take towards their larger life goal or career goal. Most days at the end of GiGi Prep, we also listen as Miss Alisha reads a passage aloud from Harry Moon: GiGi’s Journey.

Overall, we seemed to have a great time celebrating National Reading Month! Great job to each participant, family and volunteer who participated. Keep reading!