Dr. Seuss: Literacy Learning for the Young

Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904. After high school he attended Dartmouth College and Oxford University. While attending Dartmouth, Ted wrote for the Dartmouth Humor Magazine and signed his name Seuss. Not long after attending Oxford University, Ted worked for The Saturday Evening Post as an illustrator designing cartoons, and then Ted began writing children’s books. Ted’s first book, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” was rejected 27 times before published. Since the publication of that book, Ted has written over 40 wonderful children’s literacy books. “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” was Ted’s last book written before his death on September 24^th, 1991. Teachers can create a multitude of curriculum utilizing Dr. Seuss products with their class subjects: literacy, language arts, mathematics, safety, art, and music. Home economics, emotions, imaginations, lying, figurative journey, fairy tales, fantasy, poetry, patterns, mathematics and literacy concepts are some themes a teacher can address in the classroom.

The amount of curriculum educators can present to their students is enormous. The contents of Dr. Seuss’s publications are suitable for young children at home, preschool or kindergarten. As a child reads these book he or she will notice beautiful illustrations along with fun lovable characters. The combination of the two represents each story well.

Children all over the world enjoy reading Dr. Seuss. His books have been published worldwide and written in many different languages and well over 200 million copies have been sold. Some of his published works are: The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hat Returns, Green Eggs and Ham, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? If I Ran The Zoo, Etc. Dr. Seuss books are divided into category according to child’s age and level of learning. Dr. Seuss Nursery: Horton Here’s a Who and Circus McGurkus 1, 2, 3! Bright and Early Board Books: The Foot Book, Hop on Pop and There’s a Wocket in My Pocket. Bright and Early Books: In A People’s House, The Foot Book, and Great Day for Up! Beginner Books: The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, and Dr. Seuss’s ABC.

Academic learning is readily obtainable and simple for students. Learning literacy is fun. Dr. Seuss stories are full of rhythm and rhyming verses. This type of print sets the pace for the reader. Students will learn phonological awareness, phonics, onsets, rimes, and segmentation, letter recognition, comprehension, story retelling, story composition; students will learn about words that rhyme and words that don’t rhyme, and object classification, Learning mathematics is effortless. Students will learn basic adding and subtracting, mathematical sequence, problem solving and more. Writing skills improve. Students learn how to summarize a story, learn about characters, setting, and plots. Students can learn poetry though through music and make crafts too.

The Internet provides a broad range of curriculum ideas. Teachers can juxtaposition Dr. Seuss with Internet learning activities. Cross-curricular, cross words, plot summary, printable patterns, and more activity sheets can be found on the websites provided to you below. Bottom of FoLearning possibilities for students are endless. In addition to Dr. Seuss books and Internet resources, educators can bring to life Dr. Seuss stories with DVDs. Educators can facilitate a child’s play and learning with educational board games like Dr. Seuss ABC, and children can work on their motor skills with Dr. Seuss puzzles.

Educational institutions all over the world have chosen to team up with The National Education Association and Random House (Dr. Seuss publicist) to celebrate the success Dr. Seuss has brought to many children all over this nation. Having this author’s great works of literacy in your classroom will bring benefits to your students. Children will gain knowledge from this well-known author, Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) for centuries to come.