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Objective: Students will be able to identify key facts and present information learned from a Google search about Dr. Seuss in the form of a mind map.
California Common Core Standard:
Reading Standards for Informational Text:
- Key Ideas and Details- Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Writing Standards:
- Production and Distribution of Writing- Use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing.
- Research to Build and Present Knowledge- Participate in share research and writing project. Gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Speaking and Listening Standards:
- Presentation and Knowledge of Idea- Create audio recordings of stories or poems.
Supplies: Class set of iPods, iPads, laptops, or other hand-held devices. Internet access and ability to email to you.
Apps:
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Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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AppStore Links:
SimpleMind+ (free) or SimpleMind
Summary
Today we are focusing on fact finding about the author who literally changed the way children’s books were written forever. The talented author, Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel or Theo LeSeig), published his first children’s book in 1937, called To Think I That Saw It on Mulberry Street. His book idea was rejected by 43 publishing companies before being published by Vanguard Press. Many of the details in this book were from his childhood home in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mulberry Street is an actual road that is located less than a mile from his childhood home in Springfield.
Read Aloud
Today I am going to do a digital read aloud And To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street using my iPad. You can do this two ways. You can have the students gather in your carpet area and read the book from the iPad much like you would a traditional book. Or you can use your projector to project it onto the screen. When you do a digital read aloud with your iPad, the Dr. Seuss books give you three options:
Read to Me, Read it Myself, and Auto Play
Doing a read aloud with my students is by far my favorite time of the day and I believe it is critical to model how fluent readers make books come alive with their voice. So I always select “Read it Myself.” I happen to think my students are more engaged this way. The “Read it Myself” option still has audio sounds that play throughout and it also allows you to tap on the pictures to highlight vocabulary words from the text.
Research: Fact Finding Mission
After the read aloud, my students will be given a fact finding mission. The mission is to use their iPods to collect information about Dr. Seuss by doing a Google search. They will each do a Google search using the key word “Dr. Seuss.” The first four links on the search are:
Seussville– (you can’t access this site on your iPad or iPods because it uses flash but this is a great resource for your computer lab time)
Wikipedia- There is a lot of information about Dr. Seuss here. We will look at this page together as the reading level of the content is higher than most of my second graders. We will focus on finding important facts about Dr. Seuss. We will record the facts on note paper.
ThinkExist.com– This site has a list of Dr. Seuss quotes. My students will work in pairs to select their favorite Dr. Seuss quote. They will post their favorite quote on Edmodo. Then they will need to comment on their own quote explaining what they think the quote means to them. They will also be required to comment on someone else’s quote and also explain what they think the quote means.
CatInTheHat.org– This page has a lot of facts about Dr. Seuss. Students will write down facts they learn on a piece of note paper.
Share Facts using SimpleMind
Once the information is gathered, we will share the data with the class by creating a SimpleMind+ mind map. Please follow this link to read my blog about how this app is used in the classroom.
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Please share with me other ways I can enhance my Mulberry St. Monday! I believe the more the minds planning, the merrier!