Technology Integration Using the Literary Works of Dr. Seuss

1. Technology Integration Using the Literary Works of Dr. Seuss

2. After TCEA is over you can also view all handouts by going to the TCEA website. My contact information is: Elzene Barton Robinson Elementary 254-662-5000 ebarton@robinson.k12.tx.us ebarton@risdblogs.org This is session number Please use your mobile devise to rate this presentation.

3. Web sites used in this unit http://ebarton.risdblogs.org/ http://www.studentpublishing.com/index.php http://www.seussville.com/ http://switchzoo.com/ http://www.glogster.com/ http://www.tagxedo.net/ http://pinterest.com/ http://www.rhymezone.com/?loc=bar http://storybird.com/ http://storybird.com/ http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tonguetwister1.html http://www.synonym.org/synonym/ http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/english http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn/

4. The rational for this unit: To help students develop a love of reading. This is an author they can grow with. Technology integration was seamless and natural. The plethora of books written by this author. Dr. Seuss teaches that it is Ok to play with words. Great for kids who are not “traditional learners” Learning is happening without the students even aware. It’s fun!!!

5. This unit lasts several months but not everyday. The first step is inviting peoplein to read the books. I called and asked almost anyone I could think of that would be interesting. For every book read students had to write a thank you letter to the reader. The letters were written using Microsoft word processing. The students had to learn how to use basic word processing skills and all work was saved to each students individual flash drive. Students also had to go to our class blog to write a review about each book explaining why they did or did not like each book.

6. This is a non-fiction book about the real Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel. After reading this book students began a web quest to learn more about the man. All websites for the web quest are on our class blog. Students printed the webquest and then searched the selected websites for the answers. Each student also created 2 slides to be included in a PowerPoint slide show about the information they learned about Dr. Seuss through the Web Quest. This was our second PowerPoint so students did this completely on their own. They had to work together to decide who would write each slide, what information to include, and the order of the slides. Each student individually chose their font, color, special effects, transition and layout.

7. These books are similar in that neither book has a natural ending. For The Butter Battle Book we used the iPads. Students used an app called sock puppets to complete the books in teams of two. Using this app students were able to animate and narrate the ending to the book.

8. For The Lorax each student in my class was responsible for two pages. We wrote our own class book using the site Student Publishing. After the book was complete and submitted we will receive a bound copy for the classroom. Parents can purchase their own copy if they want. This is a free website. Students can illustrate and write their own books.

9. For the book If I Ran the Zoo students used a website called switch zoo. They had to create their own make believe animal, give it a name and then write a short paragraph explaining what their animal looked like, what it ate, where it lived, and how it moved around.

12. This book uses lots of descriptive words. Students had to create word clouds using the web site Tagxedo. Each student made a word cloud using only adjectives that describe themselves. They got to choose any shape they wanted. Exampleexample2

13. Fox In Socks is filled with tongue twisters. Students went to the website to choose a tongue twister to memorize. Students used an app on the iPad called Memorize to help practice. Then students recorded each other saying their tongue twister. Students challenged each other to learn each others tongue twister.

14. HOP ON POP The book Hop on Pop is based on word families. After studying word families using power point slides that were teacher created students were assigned a word family to make their own set of power pointslides to teach the class. Students chose their own transitions, font, color, sounds and layout. This is certainly one of their favorite activities we have done.

15. After reading the book and watching the TV version of the Grinch students had to complete two activities. Students had to complete a venndiagrah comparing and contrasting the Grinch in the TV version and the Grinch in the book. We made the venn diagrams using Educreations on the iPads. Students used the web to find the lyrics to the song”You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. They then had to rewrite the lyrics using antonyms. As a class they wrote “You’re a Nice One Mr. Grinch”. Students found antonyms by using a website that finds both synonyms and antonyms for words.

16. The book Green Eggs and Ham was written by Dr. Seuss as a challenge from a publisher. He was challenged to write a book using only 50 basic simple words that would help beginning readers. We counted the words that were used and made a tally chart of the frequency of each word. This information was used to complete several graphs. Students were directed to a website called story bird where they wrote a short story using only 50 different words. Example

17. In the book On Beyond Zebra Dr Seuss makes up additional letters to the alphabet and then defines them. Students were challenged to make their own new letter, They used an app called picturebook to illustrate and write the definition to their word. They then used it in a sentence to demonstrate use.

18. In 1997, schools all over the United States chose March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday, as a day to celebrate reading. We participated in this event via the distance learning lab. My class read book reports they had written about their favorite Dr. Seuss book to a class in Wisconsin.We also used Google earth and Google maps to research the school we were partnered with. Students were able to calculate how far the school was from our school, and see what their school looked like both from an aerial view and from the front. We then used the internet to learn about the weather at their school.

19. Students worked in pairs to interview teachers. Each student took a turn doing the interview then a turn operating the flip camera. They asked who their favorite Dr. Seuss character is and what their favorite Dr. Seuss book is. Sample interview The videos were merged into movie that was uploaded to “Rocket Tube”. Students watched the video and counted the votes for each book and character. This information was used in Excel to make graphs.

20. After all the books were read students were challenged to go back to the books to find quotes that were memorable to them. We chose the best quote from each book and then as a class made a glogster poster.

21. Dr Seuss’ birthday is March 2nd so we decided to celebrate with a birthday party. Students used Microsoft publisher to create invitations for each reader and their parents. During the party we served Dr. Seuss inspired food that was found primarily on a web site called pinterest. While showing a slide show of all the activities we had done.