This week I decided to read a classic! I read Dr. Seuss' One fish two fish red fish blue fish quite a lot when I was little, and my dad would read it to me as a bed time story. This, like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, is one of my Dad's favorites.
This book fits into the genre of both picture book and poetry. The book relies heavily on the pictures and follows a poetic rhythm and rhyme.
This Dr. Seuss classic would be a great lesson in opposites. For instance, one page says:
We see them come.
We see them go.
Some are fast.
And Some are slow.
Some are high.
And some are low.
Not one of them is like another.
Don't ask us why.
Go ask your mother.
In addition to the text, the pictures on this page help illustrate the differences between these opposites.
Here is a worksheet on opposites provided by seussville.com
Other excerpts of the book could help students with rhyming words. One section of the book reads:
This one,
I think,
is called
a Yink.
He likes to wink,
he likes to drink.
He likes to drink, and drink, and drink.
The think he likes to drink
is ink.
The ink he likes to drink is pink.
He likes to wink and drink pink ink.
SO . . .
if you have a lot of ink,
then you should get
a Yink, I think.
One fish two fish red fish blue fish is also shares a great lesson to it's readers, that everyone is different and that differences should be celebrated. Much of the book simply points out differences, but one page in particular stands out to me for giving this idea of celebration.
Say!
Look at his fingers!
One, two, three . . .
How many fingers
do I see?
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten.
He has eleven!
Eleven!
This is something new.
I wish I had eleven too!
This book is a really good book to read to children because of all of the teaching lessons it has. For example the rhyming and opposites. I loved how you mentioned that this book also teaches the celebration of differences. Personally I had never even thought about it that way but now that I look at it, it totally makes sense. It is a good way to teach little kids that we are not all the same and that it is ok to be a little different because it’s what makes us who we are. I also liked the link you gave :) thanks
ReplyDeleteI love using this book to celebrate differences. We know how difficult it is to show children that differences are what make people unique not "weird" or "unlikeable" as we know can happen. The opposites are also a great tool to use. The worksheet would be perfect for a classroom! It gives some independent work on a book you can read and talk about together as a class.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fabulous choice. Although I wouldn't really use this in a middle school classroom I feel that the book has a lot of potential at the younger ages. I really enjoyed this book as a young kid that I had it memorized at age 5. i really like how you included a worksheet that went with the book. A fantastic tool Think you for choosing this book.
ReplyDelete