Word Choice: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss

Lesson Focus: Using a mentor text to teach students how to use a variety of interesting words to express ideas in a story. Practicing how to revise words in a piece of writing to make the writing more descriptive

Grade Level: Third Grade
Materials Needed: And to Think I saw it on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss, chart paper, student writing that can be revised, Thesaurus
Ohio Academic Content Standards K-12 English Language Arts:
Writing Processes
Ohio Benchmarks K-12 English Language Arts: 
E. Use revision strategies to improve the coherence of ideas, clarity of sentence structure and effectiveness of word choices.
Grade Level Indicators:
1. Generate ideas through discussions with others from printed material
11. Add descriptive words and details and delete extraneous information


Book Summary:  Marco's father wants to know what he sees on his way to school. But Marco doesn't think he sees anything exciting at all, until he comes across a zebra pulling a cart, which turns into a chariot, and before Marco realizes it, he is flying above in the sky looking down at Mulberry Street. He reports to his dad that all he saw was a plain horse and carriage on Mulberry Street.

Introduction: 
In this lesson, we will be exploring the word choice trait in the 6 +1 traits model. Word Choice refers to the language an author uses to express his ideas. Good writers choose words that make their story clear and enjoyable to read. It is important that teachers give students many examples of rich words that provoke images in the reader's mind. In this lesson, will use And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss to give students an example of how descriptive words can be used in a story to make it more exciting and fun for the reader. Students will then revise a piece of their own writing, replacing "tired" words with more descriptive, detailed language.

Before the Lesson: It is important that students have a writing piece that they are currently working on. They will use what they have learned from the lesson to revise their piece of writing.  Also, read the book to the class to get them familiar with the content and language.

Lesson: 
1. Read the book to the class. As you are reading, ask students to pay attention to the the interesting, silly words that Dr. Seuss uses to write his story.
2. Stop every few pages and ask students to point out interesting/silly words. Write them down on chart paper. Some interesting words that could be listed are sternly, keen, outlandish, shame, tame, fancy, perched, hitched, beast, etc.
3. After reading the story, look over the words listed on chart paper. Ask students why they chose these words? Did they make the story more fun? What if Dr. Seuss hadn't added these interesting words?
4. Have students take a writing piece that they are currently working on. They should choose at least four words that they feel could be replaced to make their story more descriptive. Allow the students to use a  Thesaurus to help them come up with similar, yet more detailed words to use in their writing. The students should highlight the words in their paper.  On a separate sheet of paper, have students write the new sentence and the old sentence to compare which one they think works better.
5. After students have had some time to revise their stories, allow them to pair up in small groups. Have students share their words with their small group and get feedback. Should they replace the word or keep it the same? Does the new word make their story more interesting/meaningful?
6. After meeting in small groups, allow students to volunteer and share their new sentences with the class.