Lesson 5: "Dr. Seuss Goes to War"
Grade
Level:
5
Subjects:
Social Studies, Science, Technology
Learner
Outcomes:
-
Students
will be familiar with the author's timing of, and intent for this book.
-
Students
will understand the lesson of this story.
-
Students
will know basic facts of World War II --events leading to the war,
major Allied, Axis powers and their leaders, Pearl Harbor, and the
Atomic bomb.
-
Students
will use the Butter Battle Book to parallel events and people
in the story to events and people of World War II.
-
Students
will think about inventions in general and specifically, the development
of the atomic bomb
Duration
of Lesson:
three 60 minute lessons
Materials:
a
biography of Theodore Geisel,
The Butter Battle book, bread slices for each student, butter, 2
serving trays, Battleship
Game, Guess Again book (weird and wacky inventions), paper,
pencils, colored pencils
Technology
Tools/ Courseware:
computers in computer lab, printer in computer lab
Teacher
notes
Procedures:
Session
1: one (60 minute)
-
Teacher
will read The Butter Battle book to the students. A discussion
for understanding will immediately follow.
-
Each
student will butter a slice of bread and will place it on the "Butter Up"
or "Butter Down" tray, depending on if he/she wishes to be considered a
Zook or a Yook. Each student will give a reason for the "side"
that he/she chose.
-
Each student
can play a game of web Battleship.
Session
2: one (60 minute)
-
Students
will divide into cooperative learning teams (5 - 6 groups). Each
team can research a specific World War II topic at the school library or
on a Web search engine. Team topics are as follows: names of
Axis and Allied countries (pointing them out on a retractable wall map),
"mini-bios" of 3-4 Allied leaders, "mini-bios" of 3-4 Axis leaders,
escalation of the war (Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into the
war), invention of the atom bomb (Einstein, Werner von Braun), and
nuclear war (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
-
Students
groups will share their research with the whole class.
Session
3: one (60 minute)
-
Students
will think about the inventive process. It was important in the Seuss
story and it was important in ending World War II ( atom bomb, Navajo code
used in the Pacific theater of war).
-
The teacher
will share the Guess Again invention book with the class.
-
Each student
will practice the inventive process and will imagine an invention or strategy
to bring peaceful resolution to the end of the butter battle!
This imagining can be produced in words or pictures.
Modifications:
-
All students
will have access to the computers because our lab is a barrier free environment.
-
Special
needs students can be paired with more able students in cooperative learning
groups for research.
Enrichment
Activities:
-
Students
who finish the assigned tasks may go to search engines (Yahooligans, Google)
for other battle games, such as Naval Command.
-
Students
may make a chart of parallelisms for events and people of the story and
of the real war.
-
Students
may read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, to learn the catastrophic
after effects of the initial use of the atomic bomb.
-
Students
may identify famous World War II sayings and speeches with war leaders,
memorizing their favorite
Evaluation/Assessment:
Butter
Battle Rubric
West
Virginia IGOs:
Grade
5, U.S. History: 5.26, 5.38, 5.53, 5.59, 5.61
Grade
5, English/Language Arts: 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6, 5.8, 5.14, 5.16,
5.52, 5.58, 5.60, 5.61, 5.184, 5.187
National
Standards:
World
history, Level II,
41.
Understands the causes and global consequences of World War II
Language
Arts:
Listening
and Speaking Level II,
3.
Responds to questions and comments (e.g., gives reasons in support of opinions,
responds to others' ideas)
4. Listens
to classmates and adults (e.g., does not interrupt, faces the speaker,
asks questions, summarizes or paraphrases to confirm understanding, gives
feedback, eliminates barriers to effective listening)
5.
Uses strategies to convey a clear main point when speaking (e.g., expresses
ideas in a logical manner, uses specific vocabulary )
Reading
level II,
4.
Uses the various parts of a book (e.g., table of contents, glossary,
appendix, preface) to locate information, establish tone and present information
5. Summarizes
and paraphrases information in texts (e.g. includes the main idea and significant
supporting details of a reading selection)
References:
The
Butter Battle Book, by Theodore Geisel (Seuss also illustrated
the book)
Sakado
and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
Guess
Again, by Jim Murphy
http://www.macromedia.com/software/shockwaveplayer/index.html
http://www.seussville.com/seussville/
Author:
Roianne
Hackett
Gail
Poling
Bonne
Riffle
Union
Elementary School, Upshur Co.
