Welcome to our Seussy Summer Series!  This summer we are celebrating all things Dr. Seuss! Some of my all time favorite books are by Dr. Seuss, and I'm sure you have fond memories, too. I am excited about all of the reading and language development ideas that can be applied using the enchanting stories by Dr. Seuss.


"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

                                                                                                               -Dr. Seuss, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut


Please, join us on our journey through crazy lands with silly creatures making lasting memories and gaining important language skills!  We will be focusing on some specific reading skills that children should master during different ages.

 

Check out the skills below!

* The Skill Focus is a reading skill that you can address before, during or after reading a story.

* The numbers refer to the ages at which children should be able to do these tasks. For example, for the Skill Focus -Listening to Stories and Answering Questions, 4-5 year olds should be able to pay attention to a short story and answer simple questions about them. Then 5-6 year olds should be able to listen to and understand age-appropriate stores that are read aloud. I like the information presented by skills so that I can see where a child is and what kind of skill would be the next step!

      - If you'd like to print all of the skills organized by age, click here!
      - If you'd like to print all of the skills organized by Skill Focus, click here!
 

 

* The books that address the skill are listed next to each skill and are linked to the blog post :)

 

Skill Focus - Listening to Stories and Answering Questions (If I Ran the Circus)

   4-5: Pay attention to a short story and answer simple questions about them.

   5-6: Listen to and understand age-appropriate stories read aloud

   6-7: Remember information; Understand what is read

   7-8: Correctly answer questions about a grade-level story

 

Skill Focus - Retell a Story (The Sneetches)

   4-5:Tells stories that stick to topic.

   5-6:Retell a story or talk about an event

   6-7:Tell and retell stories and events in a logical order

   7-8:Explain key elements of a story (e.g., main idea, main characters, plot); Read, paraphrase/retell a story in a sequence

 

 

Skill Focus - Letter-Sound Correspondence (If I Ran the Zoo)

   4-5:Names some letters and numbers.

   5-6:Understand that letters represent speech sounds and match sounds to letters; Identify upper- and lowercase letters

   6-7:Identify letters, words, and sentences, Sound out words when reading

   7-8:Have fully mastered phonics/sound awareness; Associate speech sounds, syllables, words, and phrases with their written forms

 

 

Skill Focus - Sight Words (If I Ran the Circus; Oh the Places You'll Go)

   4-5:Recognizes common environmental signs

   5-6:Recognize some words by sight

   6-7:Have a sight vocabulary of 100 common words

   7-8:Recognize many words by sight

 

 

Skill Focus - Reading (or pre-reading) (On Beyond Zebra)

   4-5: sits and listens to books

   5-6:Know how a book works (e.g., read from left to right and top to bottom in English)

   6-7:Blend separate sounds to form words, Match spoken words with print, Read grade-level material fluently

   7-8: Read grade-level stories, poetry, or dramatic text silently and aloud with fluency; Read spontaneously

 

 

Skill Focus - Writing (If I Ran the Zoo, On Beyond Zebra)

   4-5:Write some letters, grasp a pencil correctly, pre-writing lines

   5-6: Print own first and last name; Draw a picture that tells a story and label and write about the picture; Write upper- and             lowercase letters

   6-7:Express ideas through writing; Spell frequently used words correctly; Begin each sentence with capital letters and use

         ending punctuation; Write a variety of stories, journal entries, or letters/notes

   7-8:Write legibly; Use a variety of sentence types in writing essays, poetry, or short stories (fiction and nonfiction); Use

         basic punctuation and capitalization appropriately

 

 

Skill Focus - Following Directions (The Sneetches; Oh The Places You'll Go)

   4-5:Follows basic 2 part directions (this and that)

   5-6:Follow 1-2 simple directions in a sequence

   6-7:Follow 2-3 step directions in a sequence

   7-8:Follow 3-4 oral directions in a sequence

 

 

Skill Focus - Language Development (On Beyond Zebra)

   4-5:Work on forming and explaining categories (fruits, furniture, shapes).Sort items into categories. 

   5-6:Identify words that rhyme (e.g., cat and hat)

   6-7:Give directions

   7-8:Understand direction words (location, space & time words)