The End of Octember

Wow. Time has flown by since we started Octember, and I can't believe that we're already through! It was a great month, filled with poems and kids and poetry and games and events.

We kicked off Octember by celebrating the Neil Gaiman established holiday, All Hallow's Read, on Halloween! We had our bags of dark, spooky poems (with complimentary candy!) and we roamed the school handing out treats to friends and strangers. I emptied my bag within the first half hour!

On Octember, we had the Build-A-Book Workshop with the Alliance for disAbility Awareness (ADA) and the athletes from the Special Olympics. It was a great time - the kids loved making their poetry and arts books. They responded positively to the poems we read to them and which they got to put as pages in their books. I think their favorite parts were the arts and crafts activities, though! Decorating the covers of their books, drawing pictures of the night sky, making turkeys out of gloves, popcorn, candy, and feathers - it was a little wild!

Our last full-fledged Octember event was our Night in Seussville with the Student Activities Office (SAO). About ten families, and an estimate of a bit more than thirty kids - it was crazy. Everyone grabbed some food as they came in to Kochoff C, and the kids did some coloring in the Dr. Seuss activity books we made for them. Then we kicked off the evening with a puppet show and reading of the Dr. Seuss book Please Try to Remember the First of Octember. We had a heckler in the audience, but the kids and parents seemed to love the story. I was surprised that some of the kids actually recognized the book - it's not one of Dr. Seuss's well known stories. It was an interesting time!

After the book and puppet show, the kids ran around the room playing games and doing arts and crafts activities. They made Green Eggs and Ham picture frames. They played the Cat in the Hat hat toss. They went One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish fishing for opposites. They got balloons from the A Great Day for Up! balloon race. And of course, they colored. Kids just love coloring.

Although I never got around to doing the featured poet of the week blog post, we had our daily poems, and we had these great events.

All in all, it was a stupendous Octember with the LEP! Can't wait to do this again next year!

Featured Children's Poet!

Each week of Octember, the League will be featuring a favorite and beloved children's poet or author of verse. To honor and thank him for inspiring our celebration of Octember, this week's featured poet is the one and only . . . Dr. Seuss!

One of the most famous and loved children's authors, Dr. Seuss touched and transformed the way children's books and poetry were written. His contributions and ideas are enormous, and he continues to engage young readers to enjoy and love crazy rhymes and wildly imaginative verse.

For this reason, the League salutes him and chooses Dr. Seuss as the first poet to be featured in the first week of Octember.

Happy Octember, everyone!

The First of Octember

Mark your calendars, folks! Today, October 24th, 2011 is the first day that the League is celebrating the wonderful crazy month of Octember!


Wait, what? Octember? What is this Octember? Is this some kind of lame joke?


I can hear you thinking that. And the answer is no, this is not some kind of lame joke. The League doesn't tolerate lame jokes. We have high standards when it comes to things that are intended to make us laugh.


Octember is the creation of one of children's literature's most famous and beloved authors, illustrators, and master rhymers - Dr. Seuss. In his book, Please Try to Remember the First of Octember, Dr. Seuss (writing under the name of Theo. LeSieg) created the month of Octember - a magical month sandwiched in between December and January in which all of your wildest dreams come true. Ever wanted to own a skateboard TV or two green kangaroos? If you wait until the 1st of Octember, your wish will be granted.


Borrowing from our idol Dr. Seuss, the League has decided to make Octember a reality on campus from OCTober 24th to NovEMBER 18th. 


Octember will be a month celebrating the imagination of children and childhood in poetry. This encompasses a celebration of children's poetry, children's poets, and child poets. To achieve this, we'll be doing a number of super awesome things. Each week, we will be showcasing the life, works, and accomplishments of a different children's poet. We will also be featuring a different poem daily, poems written by children or for children. Throughout Octember, we will also be holding events and a special poetry campaign. There will be a ton of surprises here, so stay tuned!

Happy Octember!