Krys

Posted on 8/25/09

On 8/24/09, L Todd wrote:
> I need ideas using storybooks with junior high students to
> teach reading concepts!

I'm going to be doing a Dr. Seuss author study with my grade
7 class. There are tons of things with his work...This is my
first year teaching grade 7 LA - so this is my first time
with this idea - but we'll see how it goes. We're going to
look at Dr. Seuss as an author, but also at the artwork in
his stories, the word choice and fluency of the lines, the
powerful and sometimes hidden messages of his stories etc.
With his made up words, we can talk about how we use the
context to figure out what he means - even if there is no
such word.

The Lorax has an extremely powerful message and was way ahead
of its time in the way of environmental awareness. The
Sneetches, Yertle the Turtle, McElligot's Pool - they can all
be used to base discussions around serious topics -
discussions that the students can't fully comprehend when
they may have read the books the first time. Yertle
symbolizes Hitler - for instance in Yertle the Turtle.

You can also use story books to help with comprehension - by
summarizing...In a sentence - what was this story about? Now,
let's apply that same concept to the chapter in this novel
(or use character sketches, plot, setting etc).

...I'm using "The Sneetches" to start off my unit on a novel -
Underground to Canada. The concepts in the story book are
quite simple, the basic idea being that it would be silly to
treat anyone differently because they are "wearing a star,
and you are not - or vice versa" as in the Sneetches. I'm
going to use this concept to begin the kids' thinking about
treating others different and I know that they'll come to the
topic of racism on their own - at which point...we'll start
discussing the new novel choice.

There are also lots of great books with figurative language
in them - personification, alliteration, metaphors etc. that
can aid in teaching these devices - but much more quickly and
with fewer examples than reading an entire novel...If you
read them a story book with, say - a great example of
personification in it - they could then be responsible to
find and identify examples in the novel/short story/poetry
that they will be reading next.

Hope some of this sparks something for you...
Krys

PS: Are your students apporx. at grade level? Or do you need
lower level books for junior high students?

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