It wouldn’t be March 2 without the obligatory Dr. Seuss blog post …

I love Dr. Seuss…not just because the books rhyme and I don’t get bored reading them year after year.  Rather, because there are great teaching opportunities with many of the books, such as …

Oh, the Places You’ll Go — perfect graduation read

The Lorax — anything environmental in science or social studies

Green Eggs and Ham — iambic pentameter during my Shakespeare unit

and of course…the collaborative effort of Hooray for Diffendoofer Day — before a big test

But also — I like Dr. Seuss because students of ages are attracted to the fun rhythms and laughs that are associated with Seuss books…which provides a great opening for introducing students to various SIOP activities.

For example, I like to use Seuss vocabulary to show students how to do a closed sort.  With the reduced content emphasis and high engagement, students can focus on mastering the process of a sort quickly and effectively.

What other ways can you think to incorporate Dr. Seuss books into your teaching?

I leave you to enjoy this movie of Green Eggs and Ham!

A while back, I wrote about sucking listeners in with your read alouds [Thanks Sara J for commenting that your students LOVE that part of the day...you're great at Read Aloud ]

Well, this week I was reminded of the importance of selecting read alouds carefully.  Sure, there are always those moments when I realize that it’s 7:45 and I don’t have my read aloud at the easel yet.  I grab a book off my shelf and breathe a sigh of relief.  Sure, it happens.

But I like to think critically about how my read alouds can tie into what we’re learning in other parts of the curriculum and not just Literacy.  This paid off yesterday!  Yesterday I read a math book during read aloud — total engagement by each student…I tend to use a lot of actions and synonyms when I read…sometimes quite a sight (embarrassing so)…but, I digress!

As I was reading I hear, “I know why we’re reading this…math!”  Ahh, a Text-Self connection.  Score.  Bliss!

But wait, we’re walking past a poster 3 hours (3 hours!) later that has a pyramid on it.  The line halts, students bump into each other, a student at the back says, “what’s going on?”  (You know the scene.)  The stopped student says, “there’s a triangle just like we read about in read aloud.”  The students ooh and ahh and we continue down the hall.  A text to world…and more importantly for me, I know that I have increased the students’ knowledge of math outside of the math block.

So, what read alouds are you doing this week?  Do you have a balance of literacy read alouds (e.g. focused on literary devices or from Making Meaning/Being  a Writer) and those from other content areas?