Lit Picks - Dr. Seuss

 Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!  Technically, it was yesterday.  But I thought today would be a good day to talk about some of his wonderful books!

HERE is a website that lists every single Dr. Seuss book.  I could probably write a blog post about every one of them, but I picked just 2 to talk about today:

 The Foot Book:

 I love this book!  It teaches the concept of opposites using feet:

How to use it with babies and toddlers:  This book, along with every other Dr. Seuss book, is good because of the rhyming.  It is good for babies and toddlers to hear rhyming and rhythm as they acquire langauge.  When I read this book to Scarlett, she rocks back and forth almost like I'm singing to her.  It's also good for print awareness, which is an important early literacy skill.  Since there are few words on a page, it is easy to point to each word as you read, and show the 1:1 word: text ratio.  Pointing to the words shows that we read left-to-right.  And if you read often (any book, not just this one), it teaches where we begin books (the front) and end books (the back), and which way we turn the pages.  I like this book for print awareness because it's so simple, there are only a few words on a page, and the text is embedded in the pictures.  I also like this book for counting.  When I read it to Scarlett, we count all the feet on each page.

For older children: synonyms and antonyms are another important language skill, and this is the perfect book to use to introduce antonyms (opposites).  You could read through the book once and then try to have the child fill in the opposites on a second reading.  You could also have them make up their own opposite using feet in addition to the ones in the book.

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Another one of my favorite books to read to Scarlett is Dr. Seuss's ABC

Again, it rhymes and there is rhythm.  The text is big and colorful, so it's good, again, for print awareness.  And it promotes letter-sound recognition.

How to use it:  For babies and toddlers, it would be good to read this book a lot to get them familiar with what letters look and sound like.  I like how the book shows both the capital and lower-case versions of each letter.The inside cover (front and back) has the entire alphabet printed on it, so after I read it to Scarlett, I sing her the ABC song while I point to all the letters.

For older children, You could have them try to write each letter as you read the book to them.  You could also have them tell you more words that begin with each letter.

Dr. Seuss books are just all-around amazing for teaching all kinds of wonderful literacy skills.  A quick Pinterest Search of "Dr. Seuss Activities" leads to pages upon pages of pins and boards with ideas for literacy activities, crafts, costumes, snacks, etc.  I plan to use these books and activities a lot with Scarlett and in speech therapy if I get a job in the schools.

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 HERE are  my lit picks for vocabulary development.