Primary students need to be taught how to add details and interest to their writing. Dr. Seuss’s And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street [Random House, 1937] can be used by teachers to illustrate how good writers use description and adjectives.
Teach Primary Students to Use Details to Become Better Writers
After the students read And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street the teacher calls attention to what Marco originally said he saw on Mulberry Street. She asks the students to compare and contrast that sentence with his other descriptions. The class completes a Venn diagram to describe the differences and similarities between the plain sentence and the descriptive sentences.
The teacher explains to the class that good writers use adjectives to paint a picture for their readers. The students practice writing like Marco by adding descriptive words and phrases to their daily writing.
Write And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street Books
After reading And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street elementary students can write tall tales about what happens on their streets. The teacher can have each student write a story modeled after the Dr. Seuss story substituting their street names for Mulberry Street or can have the class to write a group story about what happens on their school’s street. The books can then be illustrated and shared with the class.
Complete Printable Seussville Activities
The official Dr. Seuss website has free printable activities to complement And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Teachers can go to the playground section of the site and click on print and play. Students can color the Help Marco Dream in Color coloring page and connect the dots to find out what Marco really saw on Mulberry Street.
Use Vocabulary Cards to Teach New Words
And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street is full of vivid details, rich descriptions, and many new vocabulary words. Students can create Vocabulary Word Cards to assist them in learning the vocabulary.
To make a Vocabulary Word Card students write the vocabulary word and draw a picture that reminds them of the word on the front of an index card. On the back of the index card they write the definition of the vocabulary word and then write a sentence using the word. The Vocabulary Word Cards can be kept in a small file box in alphabetical order for students to reference when they are reading and writing.
Students use Dr. Seuss’s book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street to become better writers by realizing that sometimes a little exaggeration can be very interesting. Primary students learn how to add adjectives and vocabulary words to make their writing better and then apply these new skills by writing and illustrating their own stories.
For more Dr. Seuss themed lesson plans read: One Fish Two Fish Red FIsh Blue Fish Lesson Plan, The Cat in The Hat Language Arts Lesson Plan, andDr. Seuss Themed Games and Activities for Kids.
Megan Sheakoski - Megan Sheakoski is a teacher, mom and writer whose ideas have been featured in college text books, graduate courses, on websites and on ...
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