"Read to Empower" Week: Classroom Resources #2

Teachers,
I decided to begin sharing some fun Dr. Seuss ideas to celebrate reading next week.  I love, love love Dr. Seuss and it IS his birthday this weekend!  Below are some great ways to integrate and really try some new activities or tried and true activities with a new twist, in your classroom...


"If I Ran the Zoo"
In www.switchzoo.com students can mesh different types of animals together and write about them. Writing ideas may include: a rhyming poem, compare/contrast why this animal would or would not survive, a fiction story about the animal, a study on what predators or prey this animal might have, or just a fun silly story of how the animal came to be!


"Fox in Socks"
Have students create tongue twisters, like "Fox in Socks"!  They can recite their tongue twisters and record on the iPads to stitch together for a funny class video!


"Hop on Pop"
Create word families!  Words can be basic (PK-1) or use prefixes and suffixes for higher grades. Students can create their own word family creations (on posters, in their writing journals, or on a word cloud or collage app/website, such as: www.wordle.net, www.tagxedo.com, https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/wordsalad-your-salads-redefined/id545164778?mt=8 (free app in iTunes)


Super-Cool Tip:
Practice writing poetry or stories, using rhyming words.  Students can visit http://www.synonym.org/synonym/ to help find rhyming words!


Brilliant New Discovery:
Katie Hollis just shared "Shmoop" with me and it is a fantastic website.  For older students (4th and 5th) students can choose different books, then and read about the meaning behind the words. I took a look at the "Lorax" resources and activities. You could put assign a small group to any of the Dr. Seuss books on this site and let them research away!  Really interesting way to view some of his writing.
http://www.shmoop.com/dr-seuss/