SEUSSICAL RHYME SCENES

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
• Small dry erase boards and markers or clipboards with paper, and writing utensils

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

“The Name Game” song – play and/or teach the classic 1964 song by Shirley Ellis (video and audio versions available online)

     “Katie, Katie, bo-batie,

     Bonana-fanna fo-fatie

     Fee fi mo-matie

     Katie!”

Sing the song with several students’ names.

Introduce or review the concept and definition of rhyming words. “What is a rhyme?  How did we make rhymes with our friends’ names?”

 

Work Session

• Introduce Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. Assess student familiarity with the book.
• Do a read-aloud of the book.
• Ask students to recall some rhyming words from the book.  If necessary, walk back through the book to review rhyming words.
• Re-read the two-page section with the -op rhymes:

“HOP

POP

We like to hop.

We like to hop

on top of Pop.

STOP

You must not

hop on Pop.

• Brainstorm movements to add to the short poem.  (Drama Instruction)  Discuss using body to hop, to pretend to be Pop, to indicate ‘top,’ and to issue the command to ‘Stop’.  Take suggestions and encourage a variety of possibilities for each.
• Enact the “Hop on Pop” poem as a short scene with the movements.  (Drama Instruction)  Discuss using voices to say the words with energy and feeling.  Take suggestions on how to say each part.  Practice saying the entire poem together with expression while enacting it.
• Brainstorm additional rhymes in the -op family (e.g., hop, crop, cop, drop, flop, flip-flop, hip-hop, lop, mop, plop, prop, shop, slop, swap, bee-bop, lollipop, bebop).

• Take student ideas to create an expanded story for the -op rhyme family.  (E.g., “I drop the slop!  It goes plop.  I go to the shop.  I buy a mop.  I mop the slop,” or “I put on my flip-flop.  I listen to hip-hop.  I bebop to the pool.  I do a bellyflop.  The cop gives me a lollipop.”)  Note: Though it will have rhymes, it need not be a poem, per se, with rhythm and end-rhymes.  Develop gestures and enact the expanded story, saying it with expression.

 

• Explore other passages of the book, and brainstorm additional rhymes together. Write them on dry erase or clipboards (leaving space on the boards for further writing ahead).

            Possibilities:

            Song, long, wrong, thong, gong, King-Kong, ding-dong, strong, singalong

            Red, bed, head, fed, bread, sled, shed, newlywed

            Pat, bat, sat, hat, cat, rat, flat, brat, mat, gnat, acrobat

            Thing, sing, wing, ring, king, bring, cling, cha-ching, sting, nothing

            Night, fight, light, kite, bite, right, tight, fright, delight, might, write, flight, knight

            Brown, down, town, crown, clown, frown, gown 

            Wet, get, let, pet, bet, jet, net, vet, yet, set, barrette, Corvette

            Possibility:  Use rhymes not in the book, such as friend/bend/send/etc. 

• Divide the class into small working groups and give each group one of the boards with a rhyme family.  Have them create a short scene and enactment with the rhyming words.  They must use at least 4 words, and they must act out each of the words in their enactment using their bodies.  Have them write their scene text on the board; assist as needed.

• Have the groups practice their rhyme scenes, reciting their text with expression.  Then have each group share with the rest of the class.

Closing Reflection

Reflect on the process:  What are rhymes?  How did we use rhymes to make simple scenes?  How did we use our bodies and voices to act out our scenes?  What do you think Dr. Seuss would have said if he could have seen our rhyme scenes?

 

Assessments

Formative

• Note how well the students are able to identify rhymes from the book. 
• Note the students’ ability to add new rhyming words to a rhyme family; note missteps and how they respond when redirected (e.g., ‘‘clock’ is not a rhyme for ‘hop’ – who can explain why?’)
• Observe how students suggest movements for the scenes. 
• Observe how students work together in their groups.

 

Summative

Have each student write (or tell) 3 groups of words that rhyme from our rhyming scenes today, with at least three words in each group.  If needed, provide the rhyme endings (e.g., -at, -ing, -own).

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

• Provide each group with a rhyme ending not included in the book, and have them brainstorm the rhymes on their own, providing support and guidance as needed.
• Increase the number of rhyme words the group must incorporate into their scene.

Remediation: 

• Do the entire lesson in the full class, without dividing into smaller groups.
• Limit the number of rhyming words in the spoken text, and the complexity of the text.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Other rhyme-based Dr. Seuss books, such as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

 Ideas contributed by:  Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW