Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, fantasy
*Young boy as main character
*Rating: Dr. Seuss is at his best in If I Ran the Zoo–from made-up creatures to fantastical places to those ever-clever rhymes.

Short, short summary: Gerald McGrew says that his local zoo is a “pretty good zoo.” But it just has the normal, old animals that all zoos have. So, if Gerald ran it. . .he would do things a little differently. For example, he would travel up past the North Pole in his Skeegle-mobile and bring back a family of “What-do-you-know!” He would hunt in the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant and even brave the blistering sands of the Desert of Zind. People from all over, of course, will want to see these amazing animals at the McGrew Zoo. And as he points out at the end, Gerald would just make a few changes to the zoo. (BTW, did you know that Dr. Seuss’s father actually ran a zoo in Springfield, Massachusetts for thirty years? Write what you know, everyone. )

So, what do I do with this book?

1. If I Ran the Zoo is full of Dr. Seuss’s wonderful illustrations. You can do two activities with illustrations. You can read the descriptions of a creature to your students and ask them to draw what they imagine. You can also ask them to create an animal for McGrew’s Zoo, name it, and even write a description–depending on their age and ability levels.

2. Students can write their own versions of If I Ran the Zoo by writing about what they would do with a zoo, or they can also change the place: If I Ran the School or If I Ran a Pizza Parlor. If you have young students, you can do this as a shared writing activity with the repeating sentence: “If I ran the zoo, I would have a ____________________.” If you have older students, they can create their stories themselves.

3. Some of the places such as the North Pole, Africa, and North Dakota are real (of course). Other places, it is clear that Dr. Seuss made them up. Ask your students to give you a thumbs-up if the place you are reading about is a real place (with made-up creatures) or a made-up place. You can also make a list of both on chart paper in a T-table. This can also lead to a discussion of what makes If I Ran the Zoo a fantasy even though parts of it are real.

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and children across the United States will be involved in Read Across America activities. But before I get into this, I want to announce the winner of the book giveaway contest I held on this blog last week. The winner is. . .Clara Gillow Clark. Thank you to everyone who left comments! I will be hosting another contest next week for a YA book as part of a WOW! blog tour, so stay tuned.

I love Read Across America day. When I taught remedial reading at David Barton Elementary School in Boonville, MO, we had a great celebration for Dr. Seuss. We all had these really cute t-shirts from NEA (and I swear to you that I am wearing mine as I type this post). Some teachers went a step farther and dressed up as Dr. Seuss’s characters such as the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2–even making their own blue wigs out of blue Easter grass. (Some people are just so creative–it makes you sick! ) We read Dr. Seuss books to kids that day, talked about his funny rhymes, voted on our favorite books in our classrooms, did Dr. Seuss activity sheets, and just celebrated reading. What a great day and a great message–celebrate reading!

It might be too late at your school, in your classroom, or with your home school to plan a big event for tomorrow like this, but you can still celebrate Dr. Seuss’s day and reading with simple activities like taking more time than usual for silent reading, sharing a favorite Dr. Seuss book with your students or children (even if they’re high schoolers), asking students to write a poem or story in Dr. Seuss style with silly made-up words, watching a Dr. Seuss movie and comparing/contrasting it to the book, or even asking children to write about their favorite Dr. Seuss book and why.

The National Education Association has some free resources on their website to use tomorrow. You can find bookmarks, a Read Across America poem, posters, booklists, and even information for parents (if you click on “For Parents” in the sidebar). Here are some Dr. Seuss books to check out, and you can find activities for some of his books on my blog by clicking on his name in the category list on the right-hand side bar. It’s super easy–just look under PICTURE BOOKS and then click on DR. SEUSS!

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

My favorite Christmas story is How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Is that weird? I just love it when the Grinch has stolen everything from Whoville, and he’s waiting to hear all the boo-hoos. But he doesn’t hear crying, he hears singing–my word! Without any presents? Who would have thought it? And then my favorite part of all:

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
“Maybe Christmas. . .perhaps. . .means a little bit more!”

And what happened then. . .?
Well. . .in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart
Grew three sizes that day!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas was originally published in 1957. In a really cool Dr. Seuss collection that my stepson has (Your Favorite Seuss pictured below), Charles D. Cohen, author of The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, writes that Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote about the Grinch because in 1956 when looking at himself in the mirror, he decided something had gone terribly wrong with Christmas. He wrote the story to see if he could rediscover something about Christmas that he had obviously lost. He wanted to explore anti-consumerism, according to Cohen, but more importantly, the sense and spirit of community that Seuss felt was lost in the world. Think about it: the Grinch is excluded from the Whos–he can’t stand their singing and bells ringing. He’s included when he gets to carve the roast beast at the end. The Whos definitely have a sense of community, which is proven in my favorite scene above!

I like that Dr. Seuss reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas without preaching or hitting us over the head with it. He does it in true children’s writers’ fashion with a great show-don’t-tell picture book. The Grinch’s story is wonderful to share and discuss with children why the Whos are still singing and happy when all their Christmas stuff is gone. This is sometimes hard for children to understand, especially since the number one question they are asked around this time of year is: “What did you ask Santa to bring you for Christmas?” Talk to students and your children about other Christmas traditions they really enjoy besides the presents and compare these traditions to what the Whos do even though all their Christmas gear is missing. When children see how their favorite family traditions, like making s’mores or singing carols around the piano, compare to the Whos singing, they might understand more how Christmas doesn’t really come from a store.

So although I love Jimmy Stewart and angels getting their wings, the Grinch will always have my heart–and he’s been around for fifty-two years, so he must have more hearts than just mine.

What’s your favorite Christmas story/movie/book?

Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? I do, and the kids do. My stepson wanted me forever to read Green Eggs and Ham to him at bedtime–even though we had tons of other books. I can say it by heart now. “That Sam I am. That Sam I am.”

My stepson had a terrible time with rhyming words for the longest time. And some people may think this is no big deal. So, a child can’t tell you a word that rhymes with goat or Sam. But the thing about rhyming words is that they teach children about patterns, sounds, and spelling. When children can recognize word patterns, pairs of letters that make certain sounds, and learn to spell these, they are on their way to becoming fluent readers and writers. So, rhyming words, in my opinion, are a big deal.

With my stepson, we used Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat to peak his interest about rhyming words. When we used these Dr. Seuss books with the wonderful photos and loveable characters, he didn’t mind picking out the words that had -at at the end. When we tried to do a “rhyming game” in the car, he wanted no part.

My point is this. . .if you have a child who has trouble noticing or hearing rhyming words, then try Dr. Seuss with them. Get him or her engaged in a story. Put smiles on their faces. Then talk about the rhyming words in the story–even the ones that Dr. Seuss made up! If your child or your students still have smiles on their faces, then why not make a list of the words. Show them how the end of the words are spelled the same and only the beginning letter is changing.

Dr. Seuss was brilliant. Let’s use him and his books with our children to improve their literacy skills!

photo by Sarah Kennon www.flickr.com

*Picture book for prekindergartners through third graders, fantasy
*Two creatures–the Once-ler and the Lorax–as main characters
*Rating: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is a wonderful book to teach students about the effects of pollution and industrialization.

Short, short summary: A young boy visits the Once-ler and hears the story of the Lorax and the Truffula trees straight from the creature who destroyed their home. The Once-ler cut down Truffula trees to manufacture his thneeds, which he sold for $3.98. He got a little greedy and built a factory to produce more and more thneeds. During this time, all sorts of lovely Dr. Seuss creatures left the area due to pollution and lack of food. The Lorax warned the Once-ler over and over again about what he was doing to the environment, but he wouldn’t listen. Finally, the last Truffula tree was cut down. What did the Once-ler and the Lorax do then?

So, what do I do with this book?

1. For a fun activity about creating ads for thneeds, see my Bright Hub article: “Creating Ads for Thneeds from The Lorax.”

2. For a 6 + 1 Traits of Writing activity, see my Bright Hub article: “Lesson Plan: Teaching Word Choice with The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.”

3. For an elementary art lesson, see my Bright Hub article: “Using Recyclable Materials for an Elementary Art Lesson.”