I Wish That I Had Duck Feet

I wish that I had duck feet

By Dr Seuss

A young boy weighs the pros and cons of possessing various animal appendages–such as a duck’s feet, a deer’s antlers, a whale’s spout, an elephant’s trunk, and a long, long tail–only to decide that he’s better off just being himself. A zany, insightful story that beginning readers will wish to hear again and again.

 

Such a fun story to share!

 

Here are my top 20 teaching ideas for you! (In no particular order)

  1. Create a mobile of all the rhyming words. Use colour coding the show the rhyming words.
  2. Use instruments and everyday objects to create a sound scape to match a scene in the book
  3. Think, turn and talk: If you could have one wish from the story, which would you choose? Why?
  4. Lucky dip an animal toy from a bag. What would be your wish? Draw your idea.
  5. Using a photo of yourself had an animal feature.
  6. Make some duck feet from cardboard or material. Tie onto your ankles or shoes and experience having duck feet. What did you find out?
  7. Create a long, long tail. How can you measure your tail? How will you record the measurements?
  8. Can you write the word SPLASH as an onomatopoeia? (The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named) Can you find some other suitable words in the book?
  9. Make a list of all the wishes from the book. Survey your friends to find out the most popular wish.
  10. Play charades to show animal movements and features.
  11. What is the purpose of the hyphen in the name Which-What-Who?
  12. Create a Y chart to describe the Which-What-Who.
  13. What do you think the message of the story is? Make a poster to share the message.
  14. Create a T chart to explore the pros and cons of all the animal features.


    Animal Feature:

    Pro:

    Con:

    Deer Horns

    Carrying lots of things with you

    Tricky to get into doorways

    Elephant Trunk

    Playing on the playground

    Washing things at home



  15. Collect images of animals and create your own animal by selecting features from different animals. What is your animal called? What would be a good story to match your animal?
  16. Create a 3D scene for one settings in the book.
  17. Collect up to fifteen words from the book and sort them as nouns, verbs and adjectives. What did you find?
  18. Select your favourite page from the book and practise reading fluently. Video your reading.
  19. Find some animal facts in the book called Actual Size by Steve Jenkins.

    Actual size
  20. Add talk and think bubbles to the pages of the book. What would be inside those bubbles?

Teaching Ideas

Check out this book on Booktopia

Enjoy and take care,

Andrea

Andrea Hillbrick