The Magical World of Dr. Seuss 1

The magical world of Dr. Seuss

A One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish Dr. Seuss’ rhymes can be as simple as that. He is famous because he wrote funny children’s books and used a lot of made-up names and words. He also did the drawings for his books and they show a lot of imagination, too. Another special thing about his books is that he didn’t use a lot of different words.

B Rhyme like Dr. Seuss 1. Make at least five lists of easy rhyming words. One example: cat, bat, hat, mat, pat, rat…

2. Next you need a list of made-up words. Some that Dr. Seuss made up are: fotta-fa-zee, snopper, tutt-a-tutt tree and wuff-whiffer. Make up one word for each letter of the alphabet.

3. Dr. Seuss used all different kinds of rhymes. One kind is the “internal rhyme”. This means that words in the same sentence rhyme. For example: There’s milk in my jilk (made-up word!). “It was hot in the pot,” said the fish in the dish. Write 10-20 sentences with internal rhymes.

4. Another kind of rhyme is the “end rhyme” where the words at the end of the lines rhyme. It’s common to use the rhyming pattern “ABCB”. For example: I like the sun just when it’s hot but in my eyes I like it not. Write 5-10 end rhymes.

5. Use repetition. This makes stories and poems energized and especially fun to read aloud. For example: I love my mom. I love my dad ’Cause they’re the only ones I’ve had. I like my sister. I like my brother And I don’t really need another. or Homework is a great big pain. Homework always fries my brain. Write five short poems using repetition.

© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2016 | www.klett.de Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen Bildquellen: Ullstein Buchverlage Lizenzen, ShutterStock RF Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten. 1 The magical world of Dr. Seuss

C Crazy creatures Dr. Seuss didn’t write poems only about elephants or horses or bears. He made up his own creatures like Yertle the Turtle, the Lorax, the Grinch or Thing 1 and Thing 2.

6. Make up a name for a creature that you want to write about. Draw and/or describe your creature: what it looks like, its personality, what it eats, where it sleeps, etc. Maybe it lives in a land called “Kajoo” or “Badadadim”. Or drives a zoom-zoom-ba-doodle powered by noodles.

7. You’ve got rhyming words, rhymes, made-up words and a crazy creature. Now you “just” need a story. Most of Dr. Seuss’ stories start with something completely normal and real: two children at home on a rainy day, a birthday, something you don’t like to eat or different kinds of fish. Then they change into chaos or wild imagination with all kinds of different creatures and places. In the end, his stories usually return to normal, everyday life. Decide how you want to work: alone, with a partner or in a small group. Outline a plot for your rhyming story. Remember, it needn’t be complicated. How about a walk to the store?

8. Use all of your work from the steps above to write a short rhyming Seuss-like story. Remember, if you’re missing a rhyming word, make one up. Don’t have a word to rhyme with “want”? Do what Dr. Seuss did and use “cawnt” or “shawnt”.

If you’re not familiar with the works of Dr. Seuss, we highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with some of his more well-known stories and books before using this newsletter in class. Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Massachusetts in 1904. He was a cartoonist and author of more than 40 books. He died in California in 1991. Because of copyright restrictions, we are not able to re-print any of the works of Dr. Seuss here. We can, however, point you to some sources on the internet or suggest that you check out your local library for English editions of Dr. Seuss books. We feel it’s important to read some Dr. Seuss stories out loud to your students so that they can fully appreciate his art of rhyming and writing – and en- tertaining! After section A of the newsletter would be a great time for your students to listen to a Dr. Seuss story, whether you read it out loud yourself or use a link on the internet.

If I Ran the Zoo (printed) The Cat in the Hat (printed) The Cat in the Hat (read aloud) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (read aloud) Printed extracts of various Dr. Seuss books Green Eggs and Ham (read aloud)

What makes Dr. Seuss’ books so unique is their combined simplicity and vitality. For example, the book “The Cat in the Hat” was actually written to be used as a primer – a book for young children learning to read. At the time Seuss wrote it, in 1957, there was a discussion going on among educa- tors as to the effectiveness of traditional primers. He was asked by a publisher to write a fun primer for children but was restricted as to the number of words he could use. Supposedly he was given a list of approximately 300 words that beginning readers should be able to recognize and was limited to these words. The book is 1,702 words long using only 236 different words. It was an immediate success and was commended as being an exciting way to learn to read compared to the traditional stories of Dick and Jane. These early primers had such captivating sentences as, “Dick said, ‘Look, look. Look up. Look up, up, up.’” To have a look at some of these books it’s easiest to open a free ac- count at Open Library where you can read books online for free. Dr. Seuss is reported to have said, “I have great pride in taking Dick and Jane out of most school libraries. That is my greatest satis- faction.” In “Green Eggs and Ham” he reduced the number of words even further and used only 50 without forfeiting any of the entertainment (and educational) value.

Additional task ideas and challenges: 1. Give students the word list from “The Cat in the Hat” and have them write a story using it.

2. Have the students use 1-2 pages of vocabulary from their English book to write rhymes and/or a story. You can give them “free” words such as a, the, is, was and an additional 5-10 that they may choose themselves.

3. Show them various Dr. Seuss illustrations that you have downloaded from the internet as inspira- tion for their poems and stories.

4. Have your students compare a Dick and Jane story to one of Dr. Seuss’ and ask for their opinion. Have them also compare the illustrations. Not everyone likes Dr. Seuss’ style.

© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2016 | www.klett.de Autorin: Jennifer Baer-Engel, Göppingen Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen Bildquellen: Ullstein Buchverlage Lizenzen, ShutterStock.com RF Unterrichtsgebrauch gestattet. Die Kopiergebühren sind abgegolten. 3