Dr. Seuss-part 4

Today we have been enjoying Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and McElligot's Pool. The kids were not familiar with either of these books, so it was very interesting after the first read through, to hear what they thought about these.

In the book, McElligot's Pool, a boy is told "You're sort of a fool! You'll never catch a fish in McElligot's Pool! The pool is too small. And, you might as well know it, when people have junk here's the place that they throw it."

But the boy can not be deterred, and he tells the man, "you never can tell what goes on down below! This pool might be bigger than you or I know!"

The story goes on with the boy describing the amazing fish that might be in McEllligot's Pool.

After reading, the kids drew pictures of the kind of fish they would like to find in an amazing pool. Mark's is above, it is a meat eating, two headed fish that can bite through steel.

Gracie's fish are a queen, a princess, and a very friendly octopus, that live together and care about the ocean. (There is most certainly a difference between the imagination's of boys and girls.)
They have continued with their pictures and are now stapling alot of paper together so that they can make their own books about the sea creatures they imagined.

The next book is The Lorax. This book goes along nicely with McElligot's Pool because of the eniviromental message that they both have, with The Lorax having a much bigger message.

Greed leads to the end of the Truffula Trees in this story, and we learn the far reaching consequences of they loss of the trees. The animals have to leave, the birds fly away, the fishes future are dreary, and finally, the Lorax ....."gives a sad backward glance...as he lifts himself by the seat of his pants.....and he took leave of this place, through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace."

The only chance for the future is with a little boy, who finds out, "UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

This led to a very nice lesson on how we can take care of our planet, and we discussed recycling, and conservation, and how even children can help our world.

We then made a wreath for our "learning wall" with an idea I found at DLTK Kids crafts.

Here is a picture of out "learning wall" so far. We have been having a great time with Dr. Seuss.