Silly Suzy Goose

When I saw Silly Suzy Goose at the library, I instantly knew I wanted to use it with my students! Suzy is a goose, just like the others in her flock with ambitions and dreams to do other things. She wishes she could hang upside down and flap her wings like a bat. She wishes she could squawk like a toucan. She wishes she could slide like a penguin. She wishes she could jump like a kangaroo and so much more. Suzy continues to show us the different things she wishes she could do with various animals even a lion. However, she doesn't quite roar like the lion. The lion ignores her at first and then he doesn't, resulting in the lion chasing her. She returns to her flock where she can blend in and is saved from the lion, "perhaps it is better to be just like everyone else, thought Suzy Goose."

I can visualize my students immediately on a second read, if not the first, acting out the different movements right along with Suzy. They find movement fun, engaging and I know learning and the brain are stimulated with movement. This is a win win situation for everyone. The book also uses a repeatable pattern for each page, "If I was a ___________, I could __________. A pattern that will help us participate as a shared reading, possibly a mentor for our own writing individually or a big book of our own. It might become a word wall word for if. This book has multiple possibilities and benefits for emergent readers and writers.