Slice of Life: Of Zooks and Yooks

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge for March, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We are writing each day about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

sol16This is a sort of deja vu slice, since I think I have likely written about what I do for Dr. Seuss Day and Read Across America Day (they were both yesterday) at least once or twice in past Slice of Life. But I still enjoy digging out my Seuss The Butter Battle Book to share with my sixth graders on that day.

The real lesson for literature is Allegory (a term none were familiar with) and history (The Cold War) but any reason to bring out a Dr. Seuss book is fine by me. Not many have had The Butter Battle Book read to them (a few had watched the video version at some point) and I made sure my reading style projected both the absurdity of the tale (butter? bread? Yooks? Zooks?) with the sharp political commentary of the Cold War’s nuclear arms race.

I even found a great chart online that connected the symbolism of the book with geopolitics of the Cold War age, which led to long discussions in each class about the Berlin Wall, for example, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

You can’t go wrong with Seuss.

Peace (let is be now and into the future),
Kevin

7 Comments
  1. I love how you used Dr. Seuss with the older kids! The first book I knew how to read was HOP ON POP and when I taught first and second grade, that was the first book I ever read to kids. I love the chart.

  2. Your teaching is so smart and interesting. I always love reading what you have to say because I, too, learn. Then I remember to be the me I am when I teach regardless of how the district asks me to be. Thank you.

  3. Wow! Just thinking of my own children in high school and how much they would love this in their humanities class.

  4. You can’t! Great visual connections to move the kids forward. I have such sweet memories of reading aloud to my 8th graders. 🙂

  5. Thank you for sharing this idea. I always struggle with Read Across America Day. How to share without contrivance? How to challenge and honor the day? Thanks again.

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