Oh, The Places You'll Go in Middle School

Every year, March 2nd is celebrated in elementary schools across the nation as Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Students love their classroom celebration, as it incorporates books that they have enjoyed. However, many times this stops once students leave elementary school. Actually, middle schoolers like Dr. Seuss too! But how can middle school teachers incorporate Dr. Seuss’s birthday into their classrooms?

Below are a few ideas for incorporating a Dr. Seuss book into your middle school curriculum through character or language arts lessons.

Books on Character

• Oh, The Places You’ll Go: This book encourages readers to persevere. It reminds them not to worry, but to continue to seek other ways around a problem. After reading this story, have your middle schoolers spend time writing about a time when they had to persevere. Encourage them to include what circumstances made it difficult.

• The Sneetches and Other Stories: "The Sneetches," one of four stories in this book, tells the tale of a group of yellow creatures who become divided by the presence and absence of stars on their bellies. We meet a character known as Sylvester McMonkey McBean who has the ability to both put stars on the starless and/or remove them. The story continues until both kinds of sneetches look foolish as they have wasted all their money to become part of the in-crowd or to distinguish themselves from the outsiders. It provides an example of what lengths people will go to in order to become popular, or to appear better than others. Have middle schoolers discuss what people do to fit into a certain crowd. Talk about the possible dangers of this type of conformity. Be sure to discuss what people their age do to fit in at school or on a sports team. 

• The Lorax: Recently turned into a feature film, The Lorax is the tale of a young, successful businessman whose greediness leads to the destruction of an entire forest. It is a simple segue into a lesson on greed. Challenge your class to come up with a list of ways that teenagers are greedy, as most teenagers do not have money to excessively spend. Talk about the fact that greed isn't only about money. Do they eat the best snacks before their siblings get home from school? Extend this idea by developing a second list of alternatives to their ideas about greed. For example, one way teenagers can be greedy is by repeatedly asking their parents for new things. An alternative could be refraining from asking for things they can do without. 

• Happy Birthday to You!: The Birthday Honk Honker wakes up the birthday kid early in the morning and leads the child throughout the day to celebrate their special day. This book can be used to emphasize the uniqueness of each person. A teacher can read this story to spark a conversation about how people treat others poorly for no reason. Then, middle schoolers can write a letter to someone about how special and unique they are. Encourage your scholars to think of someone who is not normally recognized (a parent, janitor, teacher’s aide, classmate who is usually by himself). This story could be especially useful if you, the teacher, happen to notice a pattern of students picking on each other.

• Green Eggs and Ham: This traditional story tells of Sam who refuses to eat eggs no matter what. However, by the end of the story, he tries eating eggs and discovers that he actually likes them. Sam’s experience can encourage readers to try new things. Have pupils brainstorm things that they would like to try, but are too nervous to do so. Then, write or talk about why taking risks is important to personal growth. Provide class time for individuals to write a plan for trying something new. For example, if they want to try out for a part in a spring musical, their plan could be to start practicing for auditions, as well as finding out when and where auditions will be held. Challenge them to share their plans with a friend, as they are more likely to follow through if they are held accountable.

• Gertrude McFuzz: Gertrude McFuzz is born with only one tail feather, but discovers the secret to growing more. She excessively uses the secret of how to grow more tail feathers in order to appear better than another young bird. However, by the end of the narrative, she learns a valuable lesson about jealousy. Have students consider the impact that jealousy had on Gertrude. Encourage them to think of a time they were jealous and what impact it made on them. They should also consider how their jealousy affected other people around them. This could be a written exercise, or a whole-class/small group discussion topic. 

• Bartholomew and the Oobleck: The King of Didd contrives with his magicians to create something different than rain, sunshine, fog, or snow. Oobleck rains down and causes disaster. It isn’t until the King says, “I’m sorry,” that it stops. This story encourages readers to take responsibility for their actions. Challenge learners to list the consequences of the King’s initial request for Oobleck as well as the benefits of his apology. Connect the idea of the benefits of taking responsibility for their actions with a story that is more relevant to their daily lives. An example would be taking responsibility for forgetting to do their homework by telling the teacher why it is not complete before class starts. The benefit could be that they receive an extra day to do it, or it could simply be the relief that the teacher knows the truth. In small groups, provide readers with scenarios and have them brainstorm the benefits of taking responsibility in each scenario.

English Language Arts

Below are several topics with several books that could be used for middle schoolers:

• Sequencing: Sneetches, Lorax, Happy Birthday to You!, Butter Battle Book, Yertle the Turtle

• Vocabulary in Context: Sneetches (clambered, peculiar, contraption), Lorax (dander, heisted), And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street

• Comparing Points of View: The Lorax (Once-Ler versus the Lorax), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The Grinch versus Cindy Lou)

• Cause and Effect: Sleep Book, Lorax, Yertle the Turtle, Gertrude McFuzz, Bartholomew and the Oobleck

• Persuasive Writing: Lorax (Conservation), The Big Brag (Best Animal Essay)

• Compare and Contrast: The Butter Battle Book (Yooks versus Zooks), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (The King of Didd versus Bartholomew)

• Narrative: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (Describe how lucky they are and why.) I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew (Describe a time that a writer overcame trouble.) What Was I Scared of? (Tell of a time of when they were scared.)

Want to go even deeper? Check out the following resources.

Resources:

Dr. Seuss and Universal Themes

What many people do not realize is that many of Dr. Seuss’s books are related to world events. This plan leads pupils to look at themes in various books based on Dr. Seuss’s books and then develop a poster.

Sneetches by Dr. Seuss

Want to stretch your class by cultivating a debate and writing a persuasive essay? This lesson plan incorporates Sneetches and prejudice to engage learners through group discussion, a debate, and persuasive essay.

The Lorax Explorations

Not only can The Lorax be used for environmental awareness, it can teach pupils about author’s purpose, as well as story elements. Check out this resource for some good ideas.