Vanderbilt-Pakistan Lesson 4: Dr Seuss

February 2013

Introducing DR. SEUSS

Lived from 1904-1991. Famous American cartoonist, author, and poet.

Oh the Places You’ll Go

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction

you choose. You're on your own. And you know

what you know.And YOU are the one who'll decide

where to go…

How Did It Get So Late So Soon?

How did it get so late so soon?It’s night before it’s afternoon.December is here before it’s June.My goodness how the time has flewn.How did it get so late so soon?

Questions

How did it get so late so soon?It’s night before it’s afternoon.December is here before it’s June.My goodness how the time has flewn.How did it get so late so soon?

• What is Dr. Seuss trying to say in this poem?

• Dr. Seuss repeats “How did it get so late so soon?” twice. Why do you think he did that?

• “Flewn” is actually not a real world. However, in writing, sometimes you don’t need to follow all of the rules to make things rhyme. Sometimes doing something different is what makes you spectacular in the end!

Happy Birthday

Today you are you!That is truer than true!There is no one alivewho is you-er than you!Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am! Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a hamOr a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!I am what I am!That’s a great thing to be!If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

QuestionsToday you are you!That is truer than true!There is no one alivewho is you-er than you!Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am! Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a hamOr a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!I am what I am!That’s a great thing to be!If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

• Who do you think is the audience for this poem? Audience is just the people who you are writing to when you write something. Where in the text can you find proof for which audience Dr. Seuss was writing for?

• Can both adults and children enjoy this poem?

• Sometimes having writing that is very different can be a really good thing. Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected 27 times before he got published, but he ended up being a world-famous writer!

A Prayer for a ChildFrom here on earth, From my small placeI ask of YouWay out in spacePlease tell all menIn every landWhat You and IBoth understand . . .Please tell all menThat Peace is Good.That’s allThat need be understoodIn every worldIn Your great sky.We understand.Both You and I.

Questions

From here on earth, From my small placeI ask of YouWay out in spacePlease tell all menIn every landWhat You and IBoth understand . . .Please tell all menThat Peace is Good.That’s allThat need be understoodIn every worldIn Your great sky.We understand.Both You and I.

• Who do you think “You” is in the third line?

• Why do you think the narrator (the person who is talking in the poem) wants to pass on this information that peace is good? Why is it “all that need be understood”?

• Difference between narrator and author. Author is the person who wrote the poem, narrator is the point-of-view from which the poem is written. Example: Dr. Seuss is the author, but the poem might be a cat talking about food.