Compare and Contrast with the Lorax

Yes, or at the feet of their teachers! Do your students love read aloud time? Mine do. And so do I. There are so many books I want to read to them! It is hard to choose. Here are some of my recent read alouds. This was a great one! Kids were way into it. Pedro's Journal is the account of a boy who accompanies Christopher Columbus on his first voyage. It is written in journal form. It is a great example of Historical Fiction. If you teach the explorers, I would highly suggest it!

Then we read, Across the Wide Dark Sea. This one was in our reading basal, so we read it as shared reading. This was another great example of Historical Fiction and is about a young Pilgrim boy who makes the journey to Plymouth.

After reading both, we worked on a compare/contrast of the two books using a double bubble map. Students worked with a partner to discuss and share their thinking.

We created a whole class double bubble comparing the two stories. They came up with great ideas...some I had not even thought of.

Then this week we read The Lorax. This is the story I used as my HOOK to jump us into our Animal/Ecosystem unit. My third graders were so excited that I was reading this to them. They clapped at the end! I love this book and its message! My kids tell me they are going to beg parents to take them to see the movie this weekend. Sorry moms and dads! After reading The Lorax we started researching real ecosystems that are in trouble around the world and are writing persuasive essays based on our findings. I found a great online site for this research. I'll share that activity on another post.

Later in the week I read this masterpiece:
Do you know this one? Beautiful book!

Both books are great springboards for discussions and thinking about the idea of interdependency among living things in an ecosystem. Interdependency is a big word and big idea but these two books make it so much more understandable.

These are also two great books to compare/contrast! This time I had them work with a partner to do the actual double bubble. I think the discussion part is really good at this point. The conversations I overheard were so meaningful.

I'll give them the opportunity to show what they know on an independent level next.

Here is the double bubble for the two books if interested. There are plenty of blank templates on line too if you just google it.

Loraxgreatkapoktreecomparecontrast

Do you have favorite books to use for comparing and contrasting? I would love to hear. Please share!