The Miss Rumphius Effect

Award Winners and Poetry

2012-01-24T12:05:00.003-05:00

I know everyone is writing about ALA midwinter and all the awards announced yesterday. Have you taken stock of the poetry on the list? Here's a recap from a poetry perspective.

Coretta Scott King Book Awards - Author Honors
The Great Migration: Journey to the North, written by Eloise Greenfield and illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Never Forgotten, written by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

Pura Belpré Author Award Winner AND William C. Morris Finalist
Under the Mesquite, written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Pura Belpré Author Honor Book
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck, by Margarita Engle

John Newbery Medal Honor Book
Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai

This is not a bad showing for poetry. Check out all the winners at the 20102 ALA Youth Media Awards page.

Monday Poetry Stretch (On a Tuesday) - Homework

2012-01-24T11:51:00.000-05:00

I've had a hard time getting my homework done these days. Over the weekend my son asked why I still have homework if I'm not in school anymore. Well, technically, I am still in school (and will be in school until they drag me out kicking and screaming), though he doesn't see it this way. I did try to explain that sometimes people just need to bring their work home. My homework consisted of reading through a stack of poetry books published in 2011. Not a bad assignment as far as I'm concerned.

My students are complaining about homework, though they're doing it. My son is complaining about his. (He's doing his too!) So, now that we've hit mid-year (academically), let's write about the homework that's dragging us down. Perhaps someone out there will write an ode to homework that's actually positive!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Like LEMONADE or Lawson

2012-01-10T22:02:00.001-05:00

Okay, I know it's Tuesday (and late on Tuesday), but classes started yesterday and I got a bit behind. Please forgive me!

I have been reading and rereading Bob Raczka's book LEMONADE: AND OTHER POEMS SQUEEZED FROM A SINGLE WORD. I'm really impressed by the way he used each word to provide the constraints for the lipogram he wrote. The letters from each word are the only letters allowed in the poem ABOUT that word. It's elegant and probably very difficult to pull off, but we're going to try! For a bit of inspiration, here's one of my favorite poems from the book.

bleachers

ball
reaches
here

bases
clear

cheers

So, there's your challenge for the week. Pick a word, any word, and use the letters in it to write a poem about that word. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results later this week.

**Updated**
I was thinking a bit about Jane's comment that this exercise if more like Boggle than poetry. It's not a bad comparison given the constraints. If you need a little more wiggle room, try the form of lipogram favored by JonArno Lawson in A VOWELLER'S BESTIARY. This alphabet book is based on vowel combiations rather than initial letters. The lipograms in this book exclude certain vowels from each set and include each of the vowels in the word. Here's an example.

Excerpt from "Moose"
(p. 30)

Yellow-toothed wolves
lope somewhere close, rove homeless over broken slopes,
overwhelm moose's forest home.
Moose seldom welcome wolves.

In this case, the poet is limited only to vowels and vowel combinations, not limited to using only the letters found in the word. Feel free to try this approach if it works for you. Either way, i guess we're writing lipograms!

Resources on Pinterest

2012-01-09T08:55:00.000-05:00

I blame my students for seducing me, and Loreen Leedy for finally convincing me to take the plunge. Let me back up. Have you read the post Pinterest for nonfiction (and everything else)! by Loreen Leedy? Leedy has a new book coming out called SEEING SYMMETRY. She has a Pinterest board dedicated to Seeing Symmetry. The images she has found are very cool. I'm already thinking about how I can incorporate these ideas in math this semester.

So, based on Loreen's post, I asked her to invite me to Pinterest. I've only started pinning, but what you'll find are largely resources devoted to teaching, though I do have a board for 2012 books I can't wait to read. Here are a few links to my boards.

Math Resources

2012 Books I Can't Wait to Read

My Pinterest Account (other boards include foldables, classroom organization, making teaching easier, bulletin board)

If you like this idea and don't have an account, send me a note and I'll invite you.

Top Five List Continued

2012-01-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's the recap. In my last post I began the excruciating task of picking my 5 favorite books of 2011. I had to leave for a meeting before I finished, so here are my last two choices. (If you want to know what the other three are, you'll need to check out my last post!)

Can We Save the Tiger, written by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Vicky White - No surprises here. Did you honestly think I'd make a favorite book list and leave out science? I loved a lot of nonfiction picture books this year, but I was especially impressed with Jenkins take on endangered species. The language is compelling, yet easy enough for children' to understand. Jenkins does a fine job emphasizing the importance of conservation efforts and recognizing this complicated work. Good science and fabulous illustrations make for a terrific read.

The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China by Ed Young - This is a moving memoir provides a unique look at Young's early years in Shanghai. Not a straightforward narrative, but rather an episodic look at growing up in a fantastical house (where kids roller-skated on the roof and rode bikes in an empty swimming pool) during years of depression, occupation, and war. Young's illustrations are beautiful collages constructed of sketches, painting, paper, and photographs.

2011 Recommendations - Top Five Lists

2012-01-04T10:47:00.001-05:00

Are you looking for some of the best reads from 2011? The staff members at Powell's each selected their top 5 titles of the year. There are picture books, middle grade novels, young adult titles and plenty of adult fiction in here. It's a fascinating collection of lists that has given me some new titles to start of 2012. Hop on over and take a look at Staff Top 5s of 2011.

If asked to select your 5 favorite reads of 2011 could you do it? I'm going to try and I hope you'll join me. Here is my list (in no particular order).

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd - I read this one on the plane ride home to see my mom. Big Mistake. I sobbed through the last portion of the book, probably frightening those around me. Given what I know about the untimely death of Dowd, it made the tale even more moving.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - I loved Karou and her relationship with Brimstone and got swept up in the mystery surrounding Karou's history. I was enchanted with Prague, the art, the chimaera, and Akiva (of course!). However, the kicker for me came at the end of the book. Just as I thought things were winding up -- no way! I should have seen it coming, and darn, now I must wait for book 2!

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul Janeczko - Heartbreaking, shocking, and brutally honest, Janezcko's poems pack an emotional punch. There is beauty in this collection, even though readers repeatedly experience loss and death. The humanity and strength of the victims, the depravity of the SS, and the horror that was the Holocaust is evident in Janezcko's carefully chosen words. Reading this is like watching a train wreck—you want to look away, but can't. I wanted to stop reading, but couldn't put it down.

Okay, I've got to head out to a meeting. Books 4 and 5 when I return. Until then, won't you join me in listing your top five of 2011?

Best Poems of 2011

2012-01-03T09:23:00.001-05:00

I read a lot of poetry in 2001, yet I still can't imagine picking the single best poem I read. Never fear! If you're looking for some guidance on this issue, the good folks at NPR picked a few. Hop on over and check out Savage Beauty: The Top Three Poems of 2011.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Prose to Poem

2012-01-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

I've been inspired by Walter Dean Myers' book We Are America: A Tribute From the Heart to reread the Declaration of Independence, portions of the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and more. This got me thinking about transforming a prose document into poetry. Consider this your first found poem challenge of the year. Take a letter, a speech, a passage from a favorite book, any portion of prose with some meaning, and use words from it to write a poem. (Note that if you use excerpts from poems by other authors that you will be writing a cento. You can read more about the cento at Poets.org.)

I've been reading (for the umpteenth time) Walden: Or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. Here's a poem I wrote based on the words from the chapter Winter Animals.

Hills rose up around me
and in misty weather loomed
like fabulous creatures.

I could walk freely
far from the village street,
where I heard the forlorn but
melodious note,
quite familiar to me,
of a hooting owl.

At length the jays arrived
with discordant screams.
Then came the chickadees
in flocks, hammering away
with their bills.

And once a sparrow
alighted upon my shoulder.
For a moment,
I felt more distinguished
by that circumstance
than by any epaulet
I could have worn.

So, there's your challenge. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results later this week.

And the Finalists Are ...

2012-01-01T20:42:00.001-05:00

The finalists for the 2011 Cybils are in! This year there was a new category (Book Apps) and as usual, many wonderful titles up for review.

Links to the finalists are below.

Book Apps
Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Nonfiction for Middle Grade & Young Adult
Nonfiction Picture Books
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction

I had the honor of serving on the round 1 panel for poetry. We had a wonderful group of judges who engaged in some thoughtful discussions about the award criteria and the nominated titles.

So, off you go! I do hope some of your favorites made the lists.

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - Snow

2011-12-20T20:44:00.001-05:00

William and I have been reading books about snow -- Snowflake Bentley, The Story of Snow, and The Secret Life of a Snowflake.

Sadly, we won't be having white holidays this year. In fact, it looks like it will be raining. Even though we don't expect to see flakes any time soon, we're still dreaming of snow angels, sledding, snowball fights, and hoping for at least one snow day.

Have you been dreaming of snow? Whether you love it or hate, we've all got some snow poetry in our hearts. I particularly like to read about it during this time of year. I'm fond of Dickinson (It sifts from leaden sieves,/ It powders all the wood,/ It fills with alabaster wool/ The wrinkles of the road.), Collins (Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,/ its white flag waving over everything,/ the landscape vanished,), Stevens (One must have a mind of winter/ To regard the frost and the boughs/ Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;) and many others.

So, I've been inspired to read and write about snow this week. How about you? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - "Index" or "Table of Contents" Poem

2011-12-05T16:07:00.001-05:00

If you could write your life or someone else's in an abbreviated form, what would it look like? This is the question I ask myself every time I read Paul Violi's poem "Index." You can read the poem at The Agonist. You may also be interested in Violi's words on the poem.

While thinking this might be an interesting form to try, I came across some "table of contents" poems.

So, I'm imagining this as something of a biographical (or autobiographical) list poem. Let's see what kind of poetry we can make of this, shall we? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results here later this week.

Elementary Math Work Stations

2011-12-05T11:14:00.000-05:00

My students have begun to turn in their final projects for math. This semester, a few brave souls are putting all their materials online. As their work goes live, I'll link it here for those of you with an interest.

Today I am highlighting the work of Christine Mingus. Check out her project entitled Playing With Patterns. You'll find kindergarten resources for at least 10 different station activities, all complete with downloads.

Encouraging Reluctant Mathematicians at Home - Part 1

2011-11-30T08:32:00.072-05:00

Encouraging and nurturing the love of mathematics can be a challenge both at home and in the classroom. One way to support reluctant math lovers is to get them reading about math. There are many terrific books that include mathematical content or challenging puzzles to solve. Here are some titles that will encourage children to stretch their mathematical muscles in a different way.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster - Take a journey with Milo, a young boy who drives through a magic tollbooth into the Lands Beyond and embarks on a quest to rescue the maidens Rhyme and Reason from exile and reconcile the estranged kingdoms of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. This is a great book for kids enamored of words and/or numbers.

Grandfather Tang's Story: A Tale Told With Tangrams by Ann Tompert and The Warlord's Puzzle by Virginia Pilegard are both stories that revolve around an ancient Chinese puzzle made from a large square cut into seven pieces. The seven shapes include a small square, two small triangles, a medium-sized triangle, two large triangles and a parallelogram. Kids can read the stories and follow along with their own set of tangrams!

You can print some tangram puzzles as well as shape outlines for young children.
Try out some tangram puzzles online.

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger - With full color illustrations, this book tells the story of a twelve year old boy and math hater named Robert, who meets the Number Devil in his dreams. Over the course of twelve nights, the Number Devil illustrates different mathematical ideas using things like coconuts and furry calculators. Along the way he also takes Robert to Number Paradise where he meets different mathematicians.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett - Petra and Calder are preoccupied with Vermeer. When a Vermeer painting is stolen in transit from the National Gallery in Washington D.C. to the Chicago Institute of Art, they become intent on finding the painting and solving the mystery. Clues and mysteries abound.

Calder carries a set of pentominoes in his pocket at all times, so be sure to print your own set to use while reading this one!
Play pentominoes online.
Learn more about the book, the author, and the other books in the series at the Scholastic site.

Brown Paper School Math Books by Marilyn Burns - Don't let the publication dates fool you into thinking these are out of date (one was first published in 1975!). These are great books for helping kids see that math is fun and for everyone.

The Book of Think: Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size
The I Hate Mathematics! Book
Math for Smarty Pants

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - Eleven year-old Reynie Muldoon is intrigued by an ad in the paper that asks “Are You a Gifted Child looking for Special Opportunities?” Reynie and dozens of other children show up to answer the ad and take a mind-boggling series of tests, but only Reynie and three others are left at the end. Puzzles and mysteries abound in this adventurous tale. Sequels include The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

After reading the books, try your hand at solving the puzzles in The Mysterious Benedict Society: Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums.
Play games for the gifted at the Mysterious Benedict Society site.
Download and print some logic challenges.
Get everyone involved and download the Family Reading Guide.

Books by Greg Tang - Greg Tang has written a series of books that encourage children to look for patterns in math and find more "economical" ways of solving problems.

The Best of Times: Math Strategies That Multiply
Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles
Math Appeal
Math Fables: Lessons That Count
Math Fables Too: Making Science Count
Math for All Seasons: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles
Math Potatoes: More Mind-Stretching Brain Food
Math-terpieces

The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures by Malba Tahan - Orginally published in 1949 as O Homem que Calculava, this book of mathematical puzzles was written by Júlio César de Mello e Souza and published under the pen name Malba Tahan. The book is an enjoyable series of "Arabian nights"-style tales, with each story built around a classic mathematical puzzle. In each tale, Beremiz Samir uses his mathematical powers to "settle disputes, give wise advice, overcome dangerous enemies, and win for himself fame and fortune."

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin - Winston sees puzzles everywhere. Imagine his dismay when he gives his sister a box for her birthday, only to learn that it has a secret compartment containing four wood sticks with puzzle clues. Readers will solve puzzles right along with Winston and his sister Katie as they try to solve the mystery. The sequel to this book, The Potato Chip Puzzles, is also highly entertaining.

Download puzzles from the Winston Breen books
Check out the Winston Breen puzzle blog

Books by Theoni Pappas - Written in the same vein as the Brown Paper School Books, Pappas has written many books about math, my favorites of which are those where a cat explores the math in and around his house.

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat
Further Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat

The Origami Master by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, Lissy's Friends by Grace Lin (picture books), and Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George (poetry) are all books about origami. Paper folding is a great visual and spatial puzzler for kids and adults. It's also fun!

You can get great paper at Origami Corner.
Try making this origami crane.
Here are directions on folding an origami frog. You can also try this origami math lesson which includes a "fabulous frog" reproducible.
If you have trouble reading origami directions in print, try following along with the videos on this site.

Do the Math: Secrets, Lies, and Algebra by Wendy Lichtman - Tess is an eighth grade girl experiencing typical middle school problems--friends breaking promises, peers cheating on tests, the boy that may-or-may not be interested--as well negotiating some drama at home. Tess examines everything logically and views her world through the lens of mathematics.

"The way Sammy spoke about her mother made me think of what Venn diagrams look like when the two sets have nothing in common--like, for example, the set of odd numbers and the set of even numbers. Their intersection is called an empty set, because there's nothing in it. There's not one number that can be both odd and even. I didn't like thinking of Sammy and her mother like that--like an empty set." (p.49)

While the book isn't necessarily about math, Tess has many interesting mathematical insights and how they relate to the world we live in.

That's it for now. Do you have a favorite book that offers something mathematical to puzzle over? If so, please share. I would love to add your ideas to this list.

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - Hay(na)ku

2011-11-29T14:13:00.001-05:00

We tried this form back in 2009, so it's time to dig it out and try again! The hay(na)ku and was created in 2003 by poet Eileen Tabios. Here are the guidelines.

Hay(na)ku is a 3-line poem of six words with one word in the first line, two words in the second, and three in the third. There are no other rules and no restrictions on number of syllables or rhyme.

Need some examples? You can find some Hay(na)ku poetry contest winners at the Hay(na)ku Poetry blog. There is also a thoughtful essay about the form at Dragoncave. As you'll see from the examples, some folks create poems comprised of several hay(na)ku strung together.

So, what kind of hay(na)ku will you write? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Ideograms

2011-11-14T21:12:00.001-05:00

On Poetry Friday I shared this poem by May Swenson.

Cardinal Ideograms
by May Swenson

0     A mouth. Can blow or breathe,
       be a funnel, or Hello.

1     A grass blade or cut.

2     A question seated. And a proud
       bird’s neck.

3     Shallow mitten for a two-fingered hand.

4     Three-cornered hut
       on one stilt. Sometimes built
       so the roof gapes.

Read the poem in its entirety.

I love the notion of writing about the shape of things. What do you see in the number 6? Or the letter Y? What kind of ideogramatic poem can from the word L-O-V-E? (Ideogramatic? Yeah, I just made that up!)

Visit Joyce Sidman's site to see how she used the words in her name to write an ideogram poem. Now it's your turn to write an ideogram poem. Leave me a note about your work and I'll share the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - Cardinal Ideograms

2011-11-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have been reading a bit of May Swenson these days. I always read Analysis of Baseball each spring as a way to celebrate the return of the sport. Currently I'm ruminating on the poem below.

Cardinal Ideograms
by May Swenson

0     A mouth. Can blow or breathe,
       be a funnel, or Hello.

1     A grass blade or cut.

2     A question seated. And a proud
       bird’s neck.

3     Shallow mitten for a two-fingered hand.

4     Three-cornered hut
       on one stilt. Sometimes built
       so the roof gapes.

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up today is being hosted by Teaching Authors. Do stop by and take in all the wonderful pieces being shared this Veteran's Day. Before you go, check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Commemorate

2011-11-07T18:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday this little blog was 5 years old. I suppose I would throw more of a celebration if I was more productive than I have been in the last year and a half. A lot of the meaty, nonfiction stuff is appearing on the blog I now write with my students. Miss Rumphius, save for poetry, has been sadly neglected. Neglected and all, I'm still thinking about celebrations and commemorations. This Friday is Veteran's Day. Thanksgiving is around the corner. My dog just turned 14. There are lots of things we can celebrate and remember, from the grand to the small. What would you like to remember?

Let's write about that this week. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Three Words

2011-10-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

I've been fiddling with the sestina as of late and having difficulty, so I thought a three word prompt might inspire me a bit. Since I'm still thinking fall, here are the three words I have been working with.

gate
leaf
moon

Your challenge this week is to use these three words in a poem. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - For the Season

2011-10-24T21:42:00.001-04:00

Fall is my favorite season. I'm so grateful I still live in an area where the leaves change color. Fall poetry inspires me almost as much as the season. I could live on a steady diet of Frost during these months. I've read and re-read October, Gathering Leaves, After Apple-picking, and Nothing Gold Can Stay. I've also spent time perusing Keats and Ode to Autumn.

So, now that you're thinking fall, let's write about that. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - At the Sea Floor Café

2011-10-21T10:16:00.003-04:00

At the Sea Floor Café: Odd Ocean Critter Poems, written by Leslie Bulion and illustrated by Leslie Evans, is a collection that contains 18 poems, a helpful glossary of scientific terms, poetry notes that describe the form of the poems, and suggestions for additional resources. Did you know that Bulion has a graduate degree in oceanography? That means you'll find poetry and science--a perfect pairing in my opinion--that are nicely matched in this collection.

Here's a poem about an octopus.

Walk Like a Nut

This octopus walks backwards on two arms,
And wraps the other six around its top.
It ambles free of predatory harms,
And thus avoids become shark-chewed slop.

It winds six tentacles around its top,
Pretending to be flotsam sharks ignore,
And treads away from trouble, flippy flop,
Instead of being chomped to guts and gore--

A coconut that strolls across the ocean floor.

Poem © Leslie Bulion. All rights reserved.

The poems in this collection are accompanied by factual information. Here's the text about the coconut octopus.

The coconut octopus wraps six of its arms around its head and walks backwards on its other two arms. This movement makes the octopus look like a coconut drifting across the shallow sea floor near Indonesia. Predators hunting for an eight-tentacled snack pass on by.

This is just the type of book I enjoying sharing with my preservice teachers. The blending of poetry and informational text makes this a good choice for teachers attempting to to integrate children's literature into the content areas.

If you want some additional information on ocean life, here are just a few resources you may find useful.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a terrific animal guide, as well as some great games and interactives. (Print out a set of critter cards for even more fun!)
DLTK's Crafts for Kids has some ocean animal activities.
Treasures at Sea: Exploring the Ocean Through Literature is a teaching unit that includes games and puzzles, writing activities, book recommendations, art activities and more.
The Fish FAQ from Woods Hole Science Aquarium has answers to just about any question you might have about fish and other ocean animals.

The round up this week is being hosted by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Do stop by and take in all the terrific poetry being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Children's Book Inspiration

2011-10-17T22:37:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about selecting words for a prompt today, but then decided it might be more fun is you could pick your own, within some parameters. So, here's the challenge. Head over to Fuse #8 and check out the titles on the Top 100 Picture Books Poll. Pick a title with at least three words. Write the words in the title down the page and use these words as the first line in your new poem.

For example, if I chose IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN, my poem starter would look like this.

the

night

kitchen

And the starter for MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS would look like this.

Make

way

for

ducklings.

Easy-peasy, right? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Stretch - It's Never Too Late!

2011-10-12T11:24:00.000-04:00

Monday was a holiday for some folks, so I took fall break quite literally and completely unplugged for the weekend. It was wonderful, though I am a bit overwhelmed with e-mail at the moment.

I had a bad day yesterday. My sister had a bad day too. Today it's rainy and kind of yucky. My son was looking forward to his first tree-climbing class, but it looks as though it will be canceled. So, while last week we wrote about what makes us happy, today I'm thinking we should write about what makes us sad. Too depressing? I hope not. Sometimes the strangest things bring on melancholy and longing.

Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - What Makes You Smile?

2011-10-04T14:45:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm late, but Mondays are horrible days. I also scheduled this to post, but had the wrong date and didn't check the calendar, so I was off anyway!

Originally I wanted to write about things that make you happy, but this morning while stopping for a cup of tea, I saw two dogs outside my local coffee shop. They were both wagging their tails so vigorously that their whole behinds were shaking. If a sight like that doesn't make you smile, there isn't much that will. Babies make me smile, as do puddles (preferably ones I'm splashing in), bubble baths, the song Young Folks, Daniel Pinkwater talking children's books non NPR, and much more.

So, let's write about what makes you smile. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - We Are Connected

2011-09-26T20:32:00.001-04:00

I spent a lot of time flying in the last four days and had plenty of time for my mind to wander. I found myself thinking about connections. Then, as I reflected back on my classes last week, I thought about trains, snap cubes, paperclip chains, popcorn strings, and other things that are connected. After returning home late last night, I thought more about connections as I held my son's hand on the way to the bus stop. So, it seems only fitting that we write about connections.

Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Magnitude and Scale

2011-09-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

I missed you last week, but I was putting the finishing touches on a grant application, one that came in at 1.8 million dollars. Think about that for a minute. That's a lot of money. Just a few days before finishing this application, I heard the President speak at UR. The numbers he tossed around were in the trillions. Even with my knowledge of math, those are numbers that are hard to understand.

While I was thinking about these big numbers, I was also working on some lessons in nanotechnology. So, I've been thinking about extremes, from very large to very small in the last week. Size can be relative though, because things that seemed enormous when I was a child often appear much smaller today.

As I ruminate on the big and the small, let's write about magnitude and scale. Anything on the continuum is fair game. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - For Those Who Labor

2011-09-05T13:16:00.002-04:00

After mass yesterday I found myself contemplating these words from the prayers of the faithful.

May all who labor or seek to labor find
mutual respect,
just conditions,
fair pay, and
a safe environment to work.

While I've been rather whiny about going so long with no power (it went on last night after 8 days), I had it easy in many respects. I had the luxury of hot showers and a working stovetop thanks to the power of natural gas. Others were not so lucky. While I waited for power to return, hard working men and women from Virginia and other states worked around the clock to get things fixed. I'm grateful to them. I know it was not an easy job.

For these folks, and all others who labor, let's write for them. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday is Here!

2011-09-02T00:01:00.016-04:00

I am still without power (that's SIX days now!), but consider me your postal carrier of poetry. There is nothing, not even an electrical shortage, that will keep me from delivering "the best words in their best order" to you. (Thank you Samuel Coleridge.)

Today I'm sharing a poem from Leaves of Grass.

Italian Music in Dakota
by Walt Whitman

Through the soft evening air enwrinding all,
Rocks, woods, fort, cannon, pacing sentries, endless wilds,
In dulcet streams, in flutes’ and cornets’ notes,
Electric, pensive, turbulent artificial,
(Yet strangely fitting even here, meanings unknown before,
Subtler than ever, more harmony, as if born here, related here,
Not to the city’s fresco’d rooms, not to the audience of the opera house,
Sounds, echoes, wandering strains, as really here at home,
Sonnambula’s innocent love, trios with Norma’s anguish,
And thy ecstatic chorus Poliuto;)
Ray’d in the limpid yellow slanting sundown,
Music, Italian music in Dakota.

While Nature, sovereign of this gnarl’d realm,
Lurking in hidden barbaric grim recesses,
Acknowledging rapport however far remov’d,
(As some old root or soil of earth its last-born flower or fruit,)
Listens well pleas’d.

I'll be stealing time throughout the day in establishments around the city that DO have power. So, leave me a note about your contribution and I'll add it to this post. Happy poetry Friday all!

*****
Good morning poetry lovers! This is your intrepid host, checking in from my local Starbucks. I've used my free birthday drink coupon, am sipping an iced chai, eating a whole-grain bagel, and loving your choices this sunny morning. So, without further ado, here's what the early bird dug up.

Robyn Hood Black is attending another Founder's Workshop (lucky girl!) and is signing in from Honesdale, PA. Today she is sharing a poem by Paul Fleischman in honor of his birthday.

Amy LV of The Poem Farm is sharing an original poem entitled My Blanket Smells.

Steven Withrow of Crackles of Speech shares an original poem inspired by Irene entitled Storm's Alarm.

Over at The Write Sisters, Barbara is sharing a bit of Roald Dahl in the form of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

Melissa of through the wardrobe shares an excerpt from an original work entitled Zoo.

Mary Lee of A Year of Reading shares an ode to the first weeks of school. Is that James Taylor? I do believe it is. Oh, what a fitting choice.

Maria Horvath is in a romantic mood and sharing the poem/lyrics If I Were a Carpenter.

Charlotte of Charlotte's Library is sharing a review of a book of graphic novel style nursery rhymes entitled Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists.

Heidi Mordhorst of my juicy little universe is sharing fishy reflections on her first week of school and the poem Fish by Mary Ann Hoberman.

Diane Mayr of Random Noodling is sharing a poem by Hal Sirowitz entitled The Benefits of Ignorance.

Diane Mayr shares original poetry at Kids of the Homefront Army. Today's entry is entitled Model Airplanes.

Finally, over at Kurious Kitty and Kurious K's Kwotes, Diane is sharing Wislawa Szymborska.

Jama Rattigan is sharing three poems and spreads from Marilyn Singer's new book, A Full Moon is Rising. Coincidentally, I brought this one home yesterday to read by flashlight in bed (no lie)!

Tara of A Teaching Life is sharing the poem she using to launch her poetry study, Where I'm From by George Ella Lyon.

Sally of Paper Tigers is sharing a brief review of the book Something Nice by Misuzu Kaneko.

Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference is sharing the poem Firefighter's Prayer by David Cochrane.

Jennie of Biblio File is sharing the poem by Naomi Shihab Nye that opens the book Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration by Ann Bauseum.

*****
Welcome back folks! It's a bit after 7:00 pm and I'm coming to you thanks to the University's internet connection. Hey, it may be work, but my office has air conditioning! And now, on with the poetry parade.

Jone of Check It Out is sharing an original list poem on Summer 2011.

Violet Nesdoly is sharing an original poem entitled Seasonal Junction.

Karen Edmisten is sharing the poem Short Order Cook by Jim Daniels.

Karissa Knox of The Iris Chronicles is sharing a ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali.

Ruth of There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town is sharing the lyrics from the Sara Groves song Fireflies and Songs.

The poetry stretch this week challenged folks to write about the forces of nature. Boy, did they deliver! You'll find some terrific pieces by Jane Yolen, J. Patrick Lewis, Kate Coombs, Steven Withrow, Diane Mayr, Amy LV, and Carol Weis at Monday Poetry Stretch - Natural Forces.

I'll check back in first thing on Saturday to round up any late posts. Enjoy your weekend. I hope it's filled with poetry!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Natural Forces

2011-08-29T11:52:00.000-04:00

In the last week Virginia has experienced an earthquake and a hurricane. It's hard for me to look at these events and NOT be amazed by the power of the natural world.

We were very lucky in both instances. I may be complaining about lack of power, but while others in our neighborhood lost trees and sustained damage to their homes and cars, we came out quite unscathed.

So, I'm thinking this is a good time to write about the power of nature, whether it be earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or just a good old-fashioned rain storm. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

STEM Friday - What's for Dinner?

2011-08-26T11:06:00.000-04:00

Over at my new blog, Bookish Ways in Math and Science, you'll find an annotated bibliography on food chains. I wrote it as a sample for my students, who will soon be creating their own bibliographies for a range of topics in math and science. (If you want to the see the math sample, check out the post on ordinal numbers.) I hope you'll visit often and check out their work.

In reviewing books for inclusion in the food chain post, I decided not to focus on nonfiction works about the food chain, but rather picture books and poetry. I was particularly taken with What's for Dinner?: Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World, written by Katherine B. Hauth and illustrated by David Clark.

While the title may not indicate that this is a book of poems about organisms and where they fit in a food chain, one need only look at the cover to see fly--frog--big, nasty predator. Before even reading the poems you could engage students in a discussion of the partial food chain in this illustration. What kind of ecosystem is this? What are the likely producers? What do flies eat? What kind of animal might eat a frog?

Inside readers will find 29 poems about a range of food chain topics. The introductory poem, "What's for Dinner," explains why animals must find food. What follows are humorous, graphic, scientific, inventive and just downright fun poems. Accompanied by equally graphic and humorous illustrations, the perfect pairing of word and art gives us a book that readers will love.

In the poem entitled "Waste Management," a rather haughty-looking vulture pulls at a strand of the innards of a carcass while standing on the exposed ribs. Here is the poem that accompanies it.

No dainty vegetarian,
the vulture rips up carron.
It likes to feast before the worms,
which saves us all from stink and germs.

While most of the poems are about animals, the last entry, "Eating Words," uses poetry and word roots to define insetivore, carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore.

The back matter includes a section entitled More Words About the Poems, which explains a bit more of the science and further explains vocabulary terms such as symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, and more. More Words About the Animals provides background information for each of the poems. Here's the text that expands on the poem "Waste Management."

Turkey vultures don't have strong beaks and feet. They can't tear into tough hide and muscle until it's been "tenderized" by decay. A turkey vulture's featherless head and neck may look strange, but skin is easier to clean than feathers after the bird plunges its head into a rotting carcass.

The final page of the book provides some additional titles for learning more about the animals in the book.

Overall, this is a fine book for readers interested in predators and prey. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

For more information about the book and its author, download the file Author Spotlight with Katherine B. Hauth.

This post was written for STEM Friday. Today's round up is being hosted by Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day. Do stop by and see the great books being shared for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Monday Poetry Stretch - Postcards from Summer

2011-08-22T14:05:00.000-04:00

Last week I wrote about the project sponsored by the Academy of American Poets in which they supplied poets with blank postcards and asked them to fill them in, in any way that struck their fancy, and mail them back. (You can see the results at Poets Via Post.)

This got me wondering about what my postcard from summer would look like. So, that's your challenge. Write a poem, "find" a poem, draw a picture, or stretch in some other way, but share with us your poetic postcard from summer. Leave me a note about your work and I'll post the results here later this week.

100 New Book Lists from Scholastic

2011-08-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

Scholastic has just posted links to a series of more than 100 new book lists. Created by teachers for teachers, these lists range from preK through grade 8 (though a few lists extend through grade 12) and are organized into the following categories:

Animals
Biographies and Memoirs
Families and Social Issues
Folktales, Myths and Legends
History and Historical Fiction
Holidays and Celebrations
Read Alouds
Science Fiction and Fantasy

Within these categories you'll find topical lists by grade level. The book lists can be downloaded in Excel or .csv format and include basic information as well as interest level, reading level (grade equivalent), lexile framework, and more. The web page for each book list often includes links to teaching resources for particular titles.

Once you're done exploring the 100 highlighted lists, you can check out Scholastic’s List Exchange, which features thousands of shared Book Lists. You can even create your own book lists.

Best Vocab Lesson Ever!

2011-08-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

Hats off to The Atlantic for their piece 24 Songs The Prematurely Expanded Our Vocabularies. Here's how it begins.

Lyrics in popular music have been blamed for social ills ranging from drug use to the London riots. But as back-to-school season approaches, it's worth pointing out how Top 40 radio can make people smarter—by teaching them new words.

Check out the article for songs, lyrics, and video clips. You'll find the Beatles, Blink 182, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Liz Phair, Rihanna, and more. What fun!

Poets Via Post

2011-08-18T09:12:00.003-04:00

What happens when a poet receives a blank postcard and is asked to fill it in, in any way, and mail it back? The Academy of American Poets asked this very thing in June and the postcards are trickling in. Check out the results at Poets Via Post.

I was struck by the number of poets who chose to use pictures instead of words. Given the time of year, I'm quite drawn to E. Ethelbert Miller's baseball poem.

Inspiration for Neverland to Become Center for Children's Literature

2011-08-17T19:51:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the article Peter Pan's Neverland could become forever-land? Here's an excerpt.

For the teenager James Matthew Barrie, the sloping, terraced garden overlooking a gentle river was an enchanted land where he and his friends became pirates, clambered over walls, built hideouts and scaled trees in the sunshine.

But the back garden of Moat Brae, a late Georgian villa in the rural town of Dumfries, became more than a playground for the aspiring novelist and playwright. Thirty years later, it inspired Neverland, the magical kingdom where Peter Pan and Tinkerbell flew into battle against Captain Hook, an adventure that captured the imaginations of millions of real-life children.

Now, nearly 140 years after JM Barrie played there as a boy, the mansion and gardens are to be transformed into a national centre for children's literature, after the derelict and decaying building and its garden were saved from demolition by a local trust.

Read the article in its entirety at The Guardian.

Poetry's Most Poignant Lines

2011-08-16T15:55:00.001-04:00

The writers at Stylist Magazine has selected what they believe are the 50 most poignant lines of poetry ever written. The lines are connected to images. The first image is a bird. Can you guess the line? Here's a hint, it's Dickinson. You may not agree with all the choices, but it is an interesting read. I also had a bit of fun trying to guess the lines based on viewing the images.

Check it out at 50 of Poetry's Most Poignant Lines.

Why Science Is Important

2011-08-16T14:08:00.001-04:00

AMEN!

Favorite quote: "If there is a basketball court in every single elementary school, then there needs to be science programs. It needs to be a priority. It needs to be mandatory."

For All You Seuss Fans

2011-08-15T20:27:00.000-04:00

Did you hear that Random House will be publishing a collection of seven tales by Seuss that were originally published in Redbook between 1950 and 1951? Come September you can find them for the first time in book format.

Read more about this at Random House to Publish Lost Dr. Seuss Stories.

Nonfiction Monday - Fastest and Slowest

2011-08-15T20:11:00.002-04:00

Book: Fastest and Slowest

Author: Camilla De la Bédoyère

Publisher: Firefly Books

Publication Date: 2011

Pages: 32 pages

Grades: K-4

Quick! Before you peak at the cover to the left, what animals come to mind when you think about speed? Which ones stand out as slow?

When my son handed me this book and I saw the cheetah and sloth on the cover, I didn't think there would be much new ground to cover. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the organization of the book and the variety of animals described.

This title in the Animal Opposites series is divided into a series two-page informational sections. It begins with On the Move which provides a brief introduction to types of animal movement. The next section, A Need for Speed, explains why speed is often key to a species survival, whether it be to catch prey or avoid becoming a meal for someone else. Go Slow further explains that some animals use lack of speed for survival as well, moving so slowly that they are more easily camouflaged. Additional sections focus on swimmers, flyers, runners, diggers/burrowers, climbers, slitherers, mini-movers, weird walkers, energy savers, and growers.

The double page spreads are filled with vivid photographs and sidebars that describe animal record breakers or show others in actual size (ruler-included). To get a feel for the book's layout, take a look at these sample pages. While the topics are covered with more breadth than depth, there is an amazing wealth of information and odd factoids that many students will find engaging.
Here are some of the interesting things I learned while reading this book.

Gentoo penguins are the fastest underwater birds, reaching a speed of 22 miles (36 km) per hour in short bursts.
One mole can dig 65 feet (20 meters) of tunnel in a single day.
The Potoo bird spends all day motionless where it positions itself in a tree and mimics a branch.

The book contains a table of contents, glossary of terms, index, and activity suggestions for parents and teachers.

Overall, this book will appeal to reluctant readers, as well as kids with an interest in animals.

This book was written for Nonfiction Monday. Today's host is Amy O'Quinn. Do stop by and check out the titles being shared this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Three Letter Words

2011-08-15T14:39:00.002-04:00

Every so often I revisit the articles written by James Fenton for his poetry masterclass. In the article To villanelle and back, Fenton looks at a variety of forms and the challenges they pose. I was particularly taken with this excerpt.

John Fuller, in response to a competition challenge, set out to write a poem consisting only of three-letter words. And in order to add to the interest, he decided on a form in which there were three three-letter words per line, and the lines came in groups of three.

What an interesting idea! Here is how the resulting poem begins.

The Kiss
by John Fuller

Who are you
You who may
Die one day

Who saw the
Fat bee and
The owl fly

Read the poem in its entirety.

This amazing poem has me wondering what kind of poems can be crafted using only three-letter words. That is your challenge. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Lev Grossman on Writing

2011-08-12T20:45:00.002-04:00

If you liked Lev Grossman's book The Magicians (I know I did) and are looking forward to reading the sequel, The Magician King, then you'll enjoy this article. In Writing the Magician King, Grossman describes the process of writing the novel. It's an interesting story, with some nice insights into the life of a writer. Here's an excerpt.

There’s a reason they don’t have reality shows about writers: it’s not visual. There’s nothing to see and not much to tell. When you’re really getting stuff done, you’re just sitting in a chair with a laptop and trying to type fast enough to keep up with the movie in your brain. That’s the glamorous life of the writer for you.

To learn more about the book, check out Upping the Ante: A Review of Lev Grossman's The Magician King.

Poetry Friday - On the Beach at Night, Alone

2011-08-12T18:52:00.000-04:00

I spent the afternoon at the pool with a well-worn copy of Leaves of Grass. My reading inspired me to share this poem.

On the Beach at Night, Alone
by Walt Whitman

On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of the universes, and of the future.

A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets, comets, asteroids,
All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the same,
All distances of place, however wide,
All distances of time—all inanimate forms,
All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the fishes, the brutes,
All men and women—me also;
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;
All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any globe;
All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann’d, and shall forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

The round up is being hosted by Karen Edmisten. Do stop by and take in all the wonderful poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday all!

Discouraging News on Reading and Math

2011-08-11T12:55:00.003-04:00

The National Center for Education Statistics just released the report Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto the NAEP Scales: Variation and Change in State Standards for Reading and Mathematics, 2005-2009. This report compares the standards that states use in reporting 4th- and 8th- grade reading and mathematics proficiency using NAEP as a common metric.

Here's the gist of the report and why I use the word discouraging in the title of this post.

There is wide variation among state proficiency standards.

In 2009, using NAEP as common metric, standards for proficient performance in reading and mathematics varied across states in terms of the levels of achievement required. For example, for grade 4 reading, the difference in the level required for proficient performance between the five states with the highest standards and the five with the lowest standards was comparable to the difference between Basic and Proficient performance on NAEP.

Most states’ proficiency standards are at or below NAEP’s definition of Basic performance.

In grade 4 reading, 35 of the 50 states included in the analysis set standards for proficiency (as measured on the NAEP scale) that were lower than the scale score for Basic performance on NAEP and another 15 were in the NAEP Basic range.

In grade 4 mathematics, 7 of the 50 states included in the analysis set standards for proficiency (as measured on the NAEP scale) that were lower than the Basic performance on NAEP, 42 were in the NAEP Basic range, and one in the Proficient range.

Are you interested in seeing where your state fell in this mix? Here are some graphics of the fourth grade results to help you better understand. Click to enlarge.

Reading

Math

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid

2011-08-09T21:56:00.004-04:00

We use the revised version of Bloom's taxonomy in teaching our candidates how to write objectives and plan for instruction and assessment. As they plan, we also want them to think about all the tools appropriate for instruction, including technology. The Bloom's Digital Taxonomy Pyramid makes thinking about technology tools in this context a breeze. For each level, direct links to a number of web applications that can be used to support instruction are included.

(The above work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Author: Samantha Penney, samantha.penney@gmail.com)

Even if you don't teach, you'll find something here of interest. As a word lover I'm crazy about Visuwords, Wordnik, and Ninjawords. The visual learner in me loves Creately and Gliffy.

How about you? What are some of your favorites?

New Blog on Books in the Elementary Classrom

2011-08-09T17:19:00.000-04:00

As I prepare for fall classes, I find that the WordPress blog my students were using has lost much of its appeal. Because of the problems we experienced last year, we barely used it. So, I have given up on Open Wide, Look Inside and have started a new blog for my classes. (Don't fret, as the content from OWLI will still be available!)

I hope you'll join us over at Bookish Ways in Math and Science. The blog will be devoted to using children's books in teaching elementary math and science, though I have no doubt some books for social studies will make an appearance. Case in point is my first post on books for going back to school.

Thinking About Graphic Novels

2011-08-08T13:43:00.005-04:00

I've been pondering a recent post on graphic novels and following the comments with interest. The post, Wondering (Worrying?) About Graphic Novels takes a rather short view of the genre. Here is an excerpt.

I can hear graphic novel enthusiasts everywhere groaning as I type—and I’m all-too-familiar with the argument that graphic novels require students to make meaning from pictures, drawing subtle inferences based on what they’re seeing.
But is that REALLY true?

Let’s be honest, y’all: Graphic novels ALREADY take away the need for students to visualize anything while they are reading.
. . .
Will students who are hooked on graphic novels ever be terribly excited about picking up a text where they’ve got to do the imagining on their own again?
Think about it: Can YOU imagine trying to imagine—or wanting to imagine, or seeing a need to imagine—after discovering an entire genre where imagining just isn’t necessary?

Interestingly enough, when I taught a course on Content Area Reading for middle and secondary teachers a number of years ago, I included Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and a few of Larry Gonick's Cartoon history books. Mind you, this was before the explosion of graphic novels, so the pickings were slim. However, there are so many terrific books today.

Do I agree with Bill Ferriter? HECK NO!

First, let me give you a personal response. I have a ten-year old who spent all of fourth grade reading through the Percy Jackson books. It ignited an interest in all things mythological. He's since read a number of mythology books, most recently Mary Pope Osborne's Favorite Greek Myths and Tales from the Odyssey, Part 1 and Part 2. In the mix of books you'll find the first three titles in George O'Connor's Olympians series. (You can read more about George and his work at Seven Imp.) These graphic novels distill the stories of each Olympian into 80 vibrant, action-packed pages. They have been read and re-read by my son. And honestly, they leave him wanting more, not less.

Okay, now for a more academic response. The graphic novels being published today demand readers engage in the same kinds of skills needed to make sense of more "traditional" literary works. The notion that "real reading" doesn't occur while students interact with the text of a graphic novel is simply false. Sometimes this genre may even require more finely honed skills, as readers are required to make sense of a range of literary devices (think about the complexity of narrative structures in a graphic novel) and vocabulary that can be more advanced than other books written for students of the same age.

Check out the article The Case for Graphic Novels in Education that responds to this issue much more eloquently than I have.

If you are interested in learning more about graphic novels in the classroom, check out these links.

Teaching Graphic Novels
Teaching Graphic Novels as Literature
Graphic Novel Resources
No Flying, No Tights: A Graphic Novel Review Website
ALA List Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Check out the Cybils blog for winners and nominees in the graphic novel category.

So, what do you think of graphic novels? Leave me a note here or head over to Wondering (Worrying?) About Graphic Novels and leave your thoughts there.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Tritina

2011-08-08T10:56:00.004-04:00

I have been grappling with the sestina as of late. My attempts have been less than successful, so I've decided to step back and try a simpler form, the tritina.

Helen Frost has a number of worksheets on poetic form on her web site. She suggests starting with the tritina since the sestina is a more difficult form. What a great idea! Here are the nuts and bolts of the form.

10-line poem made of three, 3-line stanzas and a 1-line envoi

There is no rhyme scheme but rather an end word scheme. It is:

A
B
C

C
A
B

B
C
A

A, B, and C (all in the last line/envoi)

So, your challenge is to write a tritina. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week. Have fun!

Poetry Friday - W.S. Merwin

2011-08-05T09:21:00.006-04:00

I have been reading Merwin for some time now. A book of his poetry accompanied me on our recent trip to Mexico. The poems somehow seemed fitting of the place.

He is quite an interesting man. Here's an excerpt from The Poet's View in which he recounts meeting Ezra Pound, describes how his poetry is a reflection of how he lives, and reads a poem he wrote for his wife.

Merwin's nature poetry is what first drew me to his work. He still writes about nature and is a strong advocate for conservation. In fact, he recently gave the keynote address at this year's Hawaii Conservation Conference. You can read more about it in the article entitled US Poet Laureate Says Humans Failing Themselves.

The round up is being hosted by Libby at A Year of Literacy Coaching. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday all!

What Math Skills in Early Years Are Key to Later Success?

2011-08-04T08:32:00.003-04:00

Here's some interesting news on the research front that has tremendous implications for teachers of young children.

Psychologists at the University of Missouri monitoring a group of 177 elementary students from 12 different elementary schools since kindergarten have identified the math skills students should have in the first grade to have success by the fifth grade. After factoring out intelligence, working memory and other abilities, researchers were able to determine the most critical beginning-of-school math skills.

Researchers found that beginning first-graders that understand numbers, the quantities those numbers represent, and low-level arithmetic will have better success in learning mathematics through the end of fifth-grade. They also found that first-graders who understood the number line, how to place numbers on the line, and those with some knowledge of basic facts showed faster growth in math skills than their peers during the next five years.

The results of the study will be published later this year in the journal Developmental Psychology. Look for the paper entitled “Cognitive Predictors of Achievement Growth in Mathematics: A Five Year Longitudinal Study.”

Reading and ASL

2011-08-03T10:49:00.002-04:00

Every so often I have a student looking for reading ideas that incorporate American Sign Language. I am thrilled to report that the Illinois Service Resource Center has made available ASL Literacy Packets based on seven popular children's books. Each packet includes three literacy activities, a list of vocabulary words in which each word is defined and the sign is described, photographs showing the proper way to make each sign, and all reproducibles needed for the activities. Each packet can be viewed as an e-book or download as a PDF.

Literacy packets are available for the following titles:

A Fine Fine School by Sharon Creech
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Mary Ann Hoberman
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Read All About It by Laura & Jenna Bush
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

These look like useful resources. Check them out at ASL Literacy Packets.

Children's Literature Conference in Virginia

2011-08-03T10:13:00.002-04:00

I am thrilled to report that the amazingly talented Denise Johnson, author of The Joy of Children's Literature and professor of reading, language and literacy at the College of William & Mary, will be hosting a new children's literature conference this fall. Here are the details!

The conference will be held Saturday, October 15th from 8:00 - 5:00 at he College of William & Mary.
The cost of the full conference is $100 (breakfast and lunch included).
The deadline for registration is October 3, 2011 or until the conference is full.

The lineup for this one-day event is terrific. Presenters include:

If you are in Virginia or somewhere close by, I hope you take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I know I will! Please visit the Joy of Children's Literature Conference site for a registration form and more information.

Back to Life, Back to Reality ...

2011-08-03T10:06:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful break. Lots to tell, but this picture just about says it all.

I know we'll look back on our time away with great fondness. While William gets to enjoy what's left of summer, I'm back at work and preparing for fall. Faculty return on the 15th and classes begin the 22nd. I regret to admit that my summer is officially over. While this makes me sad, I'm thrilled to be back with you.

Poetry Friday - What I Learned From My Mother

2011-07-15T11:06:00.002-04:00

I am hitting the road today to spend some time with my mother. This poem is for her.

What I Learned From My Mother
by Julia Kasdorf

I learned from my mother how to love
the living, to have plenty of vases on hand
in case you have to rush to the hospital
with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants
still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars
large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole
grieving household, to cube home-canned pears
and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins
and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.

Read the entire poem.

The round up is being hosted by Mary Lee over at A Year of Reading. Do stop by and take in all the wonderful works being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday all!

I'll be on hiatus (yeah, I've been on one for a while) for the rest of the month, but I'll be back in August. I'm hoping to pick up where I left off about a year ago with, you know, regular blogging, book reviews, and poetry. See you soon!

Science, Art, and a New Book

2011-07-13T13:30:00.003-04:00

Tonight is my last night of summer school. I've had little time for anything but teaching as of late, but when this came across my desk I had to share. Take a look at the excerpts from the fascinating and absolutely stunning book Field Notes on Science & Nature, edited by Michael Canfield.

Beautiful Data: The Art of Science Field Notes

Monday Poetry Stretch - Books and Reading

2011-07-11T11:12:00.005-04:00

I am five days away from vacation--count 'em--just FIVE! If I can get through 6 candidate interviews, my last class sessions, and final grades, I'll be home free. I am looking forward to the last HP movie and reading until my eyeballs fall out of my head. As Emily said, "There is no Frigate like a Book/To take us Lands away," so let's write about reading and books. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - Fireworks

2011-07-05T10:40:00.005-04:00

So yesterday was a holiday, and as you can see, I took that quite literally. I love those days when the pj's don't come off until noon! We saw fireworks on Saturday, which was fortuitous since they were rained out last night.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about fireworks since the weekend, in large part because the display we saw was once of the nicest I've seen in a while. So let's write about fireworks, the ones in the sky or the ones in your heart. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Until I see you back here, here's a short poem.

Starburst
colors galore
dancing before the sky
launched heavenward to fall again
KABOOM!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Sleep (or Sleepless)

2011-06-27T21:16:00.003-04:00

Blogging here has come to a near standstill as I teach Monday-Thursday from 9-3 and Monday and Wednesday nights from 4-10. I am tired, tired, tired. Some afternoons I find myself longing for a nap. This, of course, has me thinking of sleep, counting sheep, and sleepy poetry. Let's make that our topic for this stretch. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Small Moments

2011-06-20T11:00:00.002-04:00

My dad's been gone just over two years now, and I find myself thinking back on the small moments we shared. These musings have me wondering what events my son will one day remember. Will it be eating chocolate gelato at the farmer's market at 8 am? (Yes, that was this weekend!) Will it be curled up on the couch together reading a book? Or perhaps the times hunched over the dining room table working on a puzzle?

Let's write about little things this week--the things we do with others that lead to lasting memories. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Marking Time

2011-06-13T13:56:00.003-04:00

I recently celebrated an anniversary. It happens to mark the number of years I've been at the university. That got me thinking about time -- and all the ways we mark it. I follow the academic year (one for college and one for elementary school, both of which are on decidedly different calendars), the New Year, and the church year (which begins with advent). Now I add to this the number of years without my father. Every time I look at a calendar I see some new way to mark the time that is slipping away.

How do you mark the passage of time? Let's write about that. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results later this week.

Poetry Friday - Glass

2011-06-10T15:58:00.002-04:00

I've been reading some "new-to-me' poets these days. Ah, how much I've missed! Here's a poem that I particularly like.

Glass
by A. R. Ammons

The song
sparrow puts all his
saying
into one
repeated song:
what

variations, subtleties
he manages,
to encompass denser
meanings, I’m
too coarse
to catch: it’s

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up is being hosted by Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day. Do stop by and take in the wonderful poetry being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry Stretch Results - Beat the Heat

2011-06-10T15:44:00.004-04:00

The challenge this week was to write about ways to keep cool and beat the heat. Here are the results.

Mad Kane shared an AC-related limerick she wrote last year entitled Hot Limerick.

Steven Withrow shared a poem he and his five-year-old daughter wrote based on one of her drawings.

ELEPHANT’S OASIS
By Steven and Marin Withrow

One morning on his way to school
The elephant stopped for a shower.
He dipped his trunk into a pool
And siphoned up with sucking power
Liquid through the tubelike tool

His nose became that scorching hour
Sun shone slant—a cruel jewel—
Then held aloft his water tower
And drenched his bulk in drops of cool
Refreshment, like a nourished flower.

©2011 Steven Withrow, all rights reserved

Diane Mayr of Random Noodling shared this poem.

a tanka

wrists thrust under
a cold running faucet
sweat drips
into eyes always looking
forward to the next season

Recipe for Cool
by Jane Yolen

Here's a recipe for cool.
1. Dip body into pool

Haven't got a pool, you say?
Move to Scotland, no delay.

2. Ice cream can be a treat

Lactose you are loathe to eat?
Scotland then, don't miss a beat.

3. Air conditioner on the fritz?
Bits of water now it spits?

Come to Scotland, no delay.
We had summer yesterday.

Ice Cream Cone
by Kate Coombs of Book Aunt

Chocolate,
vanilla,
chocolate chip,
run through the sun
with a drip, drip, drip!

Strawberry,
bubble gum,
peppermint stick,
run through the sun
with a lick, lick, lick!

Neapolitan,
butterscotch,
caramel gold,
run through the sun
with a mouthful of cold!

--Kate Coombs, 2011, all rights reserved

How to Beat the Heat?
by Julie Larios of The Drift Record

Tube it -
tied together
floating down the river.

Cube it -
lemonade
with ice and shivers.

Popsicle it -
guaranteed
to keep you cool.

Cannonball it -
off the high board
at the City Pool.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Beat the Heat!

2011-06-06T14:01:00.005-04:00

I work on the third floor of an old, brick building, very quaint and usually quite beautiful. However, it is anything but comfortable by most standards. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and that's even when we have our individual heat/AC units running.

We have had no AC since the weekend, and it is officially an oven here. You know what they say about heat rising? My ability to work is melting with every degree the temperature rises. However, I have two classes this evening and must press on. I'm listening to Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas and trying to think "cool" thoughts. How do you beat the heat? That's what I think we should write about. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - What is One?

2011-06-03T12:20:00.003-04:00

This week my math class began learning about numbers and number sense. While I was thinking about activities to share with them and notions about what it means to really understand numbers (what is a 5 anyway? or a two? or any number really?), I found myself reading poems in the book Take a Number, written by Mary O'Neill and illustrated by Al Nagy. Here is a bit from a poem about the number one. I've included a small section from the poem's beginning and end.

Excerpt from What is One?
by Mary O'Neill

One is any single thing:
A strawberry,
A diamond ring,
A book to read,
A song to sing,
A hat, a coat,
A birth, a death
The inhale, exhale,
of a breath.
. . .
Sometimes one seems much more
Than a single thing,
For one can be a country,
Or the season we call Spring.
One can be the universe
With all its planets spinning,
And one can be as tiny as
A grain of sand's beginning.

The round up is being hosted by Toby Speed of The Writer's Armchair. Do stop by and take in all the wonderful poetry being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry Stretch Results - The Sun

2011-06-03T12:09:00.003-04:00

The challenge this week was to write a sun poem. Here are the results.

Beachcomber
by Steven Withrow of Crackles of Speech

Sitting in the sand,
sifting through her pail
of wonders from the waves,
she whispers to a shell
a secret that the sea-sound
sings back to her.
Her rescued rocks
are round enough for skipping,
and her bits of beach glass,
blues and greens,
shade the shoreline
a shimmering rainbow.
The crown of her cache
is a crab’s claw, freshly
dug from a dune
with a double-headed shovel,
like a buried bone,
a bird’s fossil,
Neptune’s ghost-glove,
or a knight’s gauntlet.
Her tiny bucket
is a treasure box
of human jetsam, too:
a hard-plastic juice cup
cracked at the lip,
a red crayon, the lid
off a popcorn can,
a pearl-toothed comb
a mermaid dropped
among the driftwood
for a girl to find,
a gift of friendship
and a message sent
to make certain
someone will recall
the sacred code.
The gulls, in loops,
fly low over the ground,
hunting for scraps
and screeching hungrily,
angrily, echoing
at every angle
around her head.
She hears their ruckus
only as a murmured
music from the ocean,
a lullaby,
a barnacle’s laugh
as the rising tide
tickles its ribs.
The dappled sun
will soon go down.
Her sieve is full
of falling sand.

©2011 Steven Withrow, all rights reserved

Mad Kane shared a limerick entitled Healthy, Or Half-Baked?. She also left this poem in the comments.

A woman was feeling undone
By years in the hot, baking sun.
Her skin was a fright.
What a rough, wrinkly sight!
And suitors? Alas, she had none.

Julie Larios of The Drift Record shared this poem.

Undone
by sun
today,
I play
and get
all giddy.
Ready,
set, go goofy
on the lawn,
running
so the sun
will see me
and be pleased
as punch -
ooooooo-
eeeeeee,
flying
like a bumble
bee, I buzz
goodbye
to my
rain funk,
today
I'm twirling
on the grass
because I'm sun-
drunk.

Julie wrote to let us know that the kind of sun in her poem hadn't hit the Pacific Northwest yet. Apparently, Jane Yolen isn't seeing much in Scotland either!

Another Grey Day

The Scottish sky is a pearl,
grey and white, full of lustre
with no sign of sun.
Yet the garden pulses green
and flowers lift their dewy faces
in hope towards the sky.
As do I.
As do I.

©2011 Jane Yolen, all rights reserved

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - The Sun

2011-05-31T10:25:00.004-04:00

I'm a day late and more than a dollar short, but yesterday was a holiday. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

While lazing in the heat of the sun yesterday I found myself thinking remembering the first stanza of a poem from childhood. It's in my very tattered copy of A Child's Garden of Verses. I had to look it up when I got home because I couldn't remember the rest of the poem.

Summer Sun
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven without repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic, spider-clad,
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes.

I also like the poem Warm Summer Sun by Mark Twain. Do you have a favorite sun poem?

So, your challenge is to write a sun poem. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

E-Books for Teachers!

2011-05-24T21:05:00.006-04:00

If you are a fan of Scholastic Teacher Guides, then you won't want to miss this sale. Until May 31st you will find more than 500 e-books on sale for $1.00. Yup, you heard that right--only $1.00! Are you doing a happy dance? I am!

If you are looking for poetry resources, you'll find titles by Betsy Franco, including Counting Caterpillars and Other Math Poems and Graphic Organizers for Teaching Poetry Writing.

There are 125 titles for math, ranging from grades preK through middle school. There are also titles for social studies, science, language arts, and more. You can preview any title before making a purchase.

For more information and to search for resources, check out the Scholastic Teacher Express - Dollar Days site.

First Day of Math - Let's Start With a Puzzle!

2011-05-23T11:40:00.010-04:00

Summer school begins tonight. Two nights a week for three hours each night I will be teaching preservice teachers how to teach math. This is perhaps my favorite class to teach. I get folks who are often quite nervous about taking a course with the word math in the title and have just eight short weeks to develop their confidence in and love for a subject for which many willingly express a dislike. Hey, I love a good challenge.

Unlike many instructors, I do not begin by handing out the syllabus or even by giving introductions. I ask students to clear their desks and then working in teams, I give them a math problem or puzzle to solve. In past semesters I have started off with tangrams, attribute block trains, and pentominoes. The puzzles they solve are challenging. I ask them to keep a list of all the math concepts and skills they are using while working towards their solutions. It may sound odd, but I want them jump headfirst into thinking mathematically and realize quickly that they need to become comfortable in their "mathematical skin." I also need them to understand that to teach math they need to know math--really KNOW math. In fact, this is how my syllabus begins.

You cannot teach what you do not know. There is a large body of evidence from which educational researchers have concluded that the quality of teacher subject matter knowledge directly affects student learning. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the teaching of mathematics. We also know that “a teacher’s subject matter knowledge of school mathematics is a product of the interaction between mathematical competence and concern about teaching and learning mathematics (Ma, 1999).” As a result, this course is focused on developing your mathematical competence so that you will not only know the mathematics you will teach one day, but also feel utterly confident in discussing and explaining it.

It is only AFTER they get this message that I hand out the syllabus and allow introductions, though having started with a group task they have already begun to know one another.

So, what task am I starting with today? This time around I'm going with some Kakuro puzzles. Like Sudoku, the object of filling in a kakuro grid is to fill the boxes with numbers so that no number is repeated in a column or row. However, kakuro puzzles are based on finding sums. Here is what one looks like.
After introducing the puzzle and explaining the rules, I solve a sample problem with them and model strategies. Then they are given a few problems to solve with a partner.

If you are interested in trying some kakuro puzzles yourself, here are a few useful resources.
Solving Techniques
Kakuro Puzzles for Kids
A Kid's Math Printable Kakuro Puzzles
KrazyDad Kakuro Puzzles
Kakuro Cross Sums

When students get to work, I get to observe. What will I learn about my students by listening and watching them solve puzzles? A lot! I will learn how flexibly they think. I'll learn something about their number sense. I'll learn how they approach problem solving and something about their ability to deal with a challenge. I will also learn how well they work with others, what their mathematical discourse sounds like, and a whole lot about their feelings towards math.

Once we've finished solving and discussing the puzzles, then we get down to business, but not before I read a poem and a book or two. (You can read more about this at the post The Importance of Math in Our Lives.)

Monday Poetry Stretch - Eggs

2011-05-23T10:22:00.003-04:00

I'm quite fond of the articles published at the Poetry Foundation web site. In the article Again! Again! by Sonia Levitin, she says the following about poetry.

As adults, we’ve learned to turn to poetry to mark an important occasion: a wedding, a death, a graduation, the birth of a child. Poems are large enough to capture the emotional richness of the event. But I think we forget that poetry is also large enough to encapsulate everyday experiences—and children’s poetry does that so well: the wonder of seeing a caterpillar wind its way across the sidewalk, the birth of a butterfly, the beauty of a pansy, the taste of maple syrup. Children’s poems take for their subjects every possible relationship, training the heart and the mind to savor and pay attention in a language that a child can understand.

I love the fact that poetry pays attention to the everyday and makes the ordinary extraordinary. Since I reviewed a book on eggs today, that's the subject that is stuck in my mind. So let's write about eggs. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Nonfiction Monday - Eggs

2011-05-23T00:01:00.004-04:00

The eNature blog had an interesting post last week entitled Why Do Bird Eggs Vary In Shape and Color?. That and a trip to the lake to watch the baby goslings got me thinking about egg books.

Eggs, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Emma Stevenson, is a gorgeous look at these extraordinary vehicles of early life. The book begins:

IT'S A QUIET CRIB.
It's a bobbing boat.
It's a private pond.
It's a room with no view.
It's walls to break through.
It's breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It's an egg.

It goes on to discuss how all animals need to make more of their own kinds, and that while some animals give birth to live young, many animals lay eggs instead. Eggs are described as special worlds that provide everything a developing embryo needs to grow, from food and drink to oxygen. But embryos need more than this to survive. They need a hospitable climate, meaning they must not freeze of overheat. Singer goes on to describe the texture, shape, size and color of eggs. Readers learn about how many eggs different species lay, how they're protected by parents, nests, or both, and how they hatch. Emma Stevenson makes her debut as a picture book illustrator with this book and it is a beautiful first effort. The gouache paintings are finely detailed and offer a visual treat to accompany the text.

The book ends with a extensive series of notes, including information on protecting eggs, a glossary, source notes and wildlife organizations. A comprehensive index is also included.

I learned several new facts about eggs while reading this book. Here are a few of them.

Bird eggshells are always hard, but their texture varies? Some eggs feel soapy, while some are powdery.

A flying fish's eggs have long threads to catch on to seaweed so they won't float into dangerous waters?

A termite queen may lay as many as a billion eggs in her lifetime?

Overall, this is an informative and thoroughly engaging book. I highly recommend it.

Book: Eggs
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: Emma Stevenson
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 32 pages
Grades: 3-8
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1727-8
Source of Book: Personal copy purchased from a local independent bookstore.

If you are interested in some other books about eggs, check out my thematic book list on spring life that focused on eggs and life cycles.

This review was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to Great Kid Books and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

Poetry Friday - 9

2011-05-20T09:48:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about time lately. Perhaps it's because I'm reading THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH ("As you can see, that leaves almost no time for brooding, lagging, plodding, or procrastinating, and if we stopped to think or laugh, we'd never get nothing done.") yet again. Or maybe it's just that as another school year comes to an end, I'm wondering where the time is going.

So, as I'm thinking about time, here's a bit of E. E. Cummings that seemed appropriate.

9.
by E. E. Cummings

there are so many tictoc
clocks everywhere telling people
what toctic time it is for
tictic instance five toc minutes toc
past six tic

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up is being hosted by the amazing Julie Larios at The Drift Record. Do stop by and take in all the terrific poetry being shared this week. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Online Storytime

2011-05-18T08:59:00.003-04:00

I recently came across an online storytime site at Barnes and Noble that may interest you. This would be a fine place to send kids AFTER they've read a book with you or on their own. The videos are nicely narrated and use art from the books. So far there are 12 titles. They are:

Charlie the Ranch Dog
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Green Eggs and Ham
Pinkalicious
Strega Nona
The Polar Express
The Mitten
Where the Wild Things Are
Olivia
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Smash! Crash!
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly

So, if you are interested in online stories well told, take a look at the Online Storytime channel at Barnes and Noble.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Sijo

2011-05-16T17:05:00.002-04:00

Originating in Korea, sijo are poems divided into three or six lines. These poems frequently use word play in the form of metaphors, symbols and puns. Here is a description from AHApoetry.

More ancient than haiku, the Korean SIJO shares a common ancestry with haiku, tanka and similar Japanese genres. All evolved from more ancient Chinese patterns.

Sijo is traditionally composed in three lines of 14-16 syllables each, totaling between 44-46 syllables. A pause breaks each line approximately in the middle; it resembles a caesura but is not based on metrics.

I'm quite fond of the poems in Linda Sue Park's book Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo Poems. Her sijo are full of little surprises. One of my favorites is entitled Long Division. It is the poem that gives the book its title. Another favorite is the poem below.

Summer Storm

Lightning jerks the sky awake to take her photograph, flash!
Which draws grumbling complaints or even crashing tantrums from thunder--

He hates having his picture taken, so he always gets there late.

You can read some other examples of sijo at the Sejong Writing Competition.

How do you write a sijo? Here is a brief summary of the advice Park gives at the end of her book.

Three line poems should contain about 14 to 16 syllables per line. Six line poems should contain 7 or 8 syllables per line.

The first line should contain a single image or idea. The second line should develop this further. The last line should contain the twist.

So, your challenge this week is to write a sijo. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Nonfiction Monday - The Story of Salt

2011-05-16T16:57:00.004-04:00

I love books that explore science and history from different perspectives. For example, I love the notion of learning about animals not by the groups they belong to (say a book on birds or reptiles), but by some common feature that links them together, as in Venom by Marilyn Singer, or Living Color by Steve Jenkins.

One of my favorite history books looks at how salt has shaped our world. No, this isn't a straight chronology, but rather a book that examines historical events through the lens of a very important substance. One could easily imagine a book written about tea, or silk or gold in this same fashion, but being the science lover that I am, I loved learning about salt.
I learned of this book only after reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. The Story of Salt is a kid-friendly version of this work. In it, Kurlansky shares the history and science of salt. Here are some interesting things kids will learn while reading this book.

Salt is the only rock consumed by humans.

Salt paid for the Great Wall of China.

Without salt there would be no mummies. (If you haven't ever mummified a chicken while studying Ancient Egypt, you should!)

Roman soldiers were often paid in salt.

When the Jamestown colony was started, a saltwork was established.

When America declared independence from England, the salt supply was cut off. (Did you know you need salt to make gunpowder? Losing their supply of salt prior to war was a big problem.)

Ghandi walked 240 miles to the sea to defy British law and make salt.

Today, the US is the world's largest supplier of salt.

This well-written and fascinating text is accompanied by color-washed pen-and-ink drawings that add humor and interest. The book ends with a timeline of salt through the centuries. Overall, this is a well-researched piece that deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Book: The Story of Salt
Author: Mark Kurlansky
Illustrator: S. D. Schindler
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 48
Grades: 3-8
ISBN: 978-0399239984
Source of Book: Personal copy purchased at a local independent bookstore

This review was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to Simply Science and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - What Month Inspires You?

2011-05-09T07:54:00.002-04:00

I was born in August, but it's not my favorite month. It's always too hot and it seems to linger unnecessarily when I just want to get back to school. I love fall, but am not a fan of Halloween. January reminds me of the blizzard of '78 and snow, snow snow. Why am I thinking about the months of the year? Largely because I've been working on a collection of poems about the seasons (more scientific than holiday-oriented) and I've been trying to think about the months in different ways.

So, now I'm writing poems about the months. Won't you join me in writing about your favorite month or a month that inspires you? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - The Grammar Lesson

2011-05-06T10:50:00.003-04:00

First, let me shout it from the rooftops, MY GRADES ARE DONE! Phew! The semester is officially over and graduation is this weekend. I really wanted a celebratory poem, but I read this one and couldn't get it out of my mind.

The Grammar Lesson
Steve Kowit

A noun's a thing. A verb's the thing it does.
An adjective is what describes the noun.
In "The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz"

of and with are prepositions. The's
an article, a can's a noun,
a noun's a thing. A verb's the thing it does.

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up is being hosted by Terry at her new blog, Family Bookshelf (once known as Scrub-a-Dub-Tub). Do stop by and take in all the fine pieces being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry Stretch Results - Rhopalic Verse

2011-05-06T10:49:00.001-04:00

The challenge this week was to write a rhopalic verse. This form was not for the weak-hearted. Here are the results.

TeacherDance shares a poem about trees.

Egg
by Kate Coombs of BookAunt

Egg whitely incubating
its contents: intricate machinery, imaginary
innovation.

We're waiting.

But nothing emerges.
Not chicken, rattlesnake,
owl, swallow, platypus.

It's simple:
Eggs matter
when shattered
from within
by pipping, curious, oxygenated
new earth-kin.

--Kate Coombs, 2011, all rights reserved

The Deck in Spring
by Laura Purdie Salas

Grey, weathered survivor
of winter, fossilized
bones, backyard skeleton

Your secret compartment,
last summer’s Memorial,
held July’s thunderstorms
held August’s sunflowers
held even September’s disappearing
heat

safe during December’s
white, fluffy, beautiful
snowfall,
safe during exacting January’s
cold, stinging
blizzards
safe during demanding February’s
old, bitter hollowness

safe, waiting
for April
for
me

Breakfast
by Barbara J. Turner of Not Kansas

crisp bacon sizzling
hot atop mountainous
egg islands sunnyside
up, finger sausages,
toast, apple marmalade,
juice - orange, unsweetened,
all eaten happily, irregardless
of nasty calories.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Rhopalic Verse

2011-05-02T06:01:00.003-04:00

The last poetry in the classroom entry was a thematic list of books on poetry for kids. In it I included the book Fly With Poetry: An ABC of Poetry, written and illustrated by Avis Harley. I love this book because it often gives me inspiration when I want to try my hand at writing in different forms. This week I want to try rhopalic verse. Here's how Avis defines it.

Rhopalic Verse: (from Greek "rhopalon"--a club which is thicker at one end)
Lines in which each successive word has one syllable more than the one before it.

Here is an example.

TAPESTRIES

Small spiders filigree
the garden greenery
with silken precision. Delicately, definitively,
they network tapestries
that capture
more
than morning's glorious
dew.

Poem ©Avis Harley. All rights reserved.

So, your challenge is to write a rhopalic verse. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results later this week.

Poetry Month Recap

2011-05-01T13:28:00.003-04:00

Thirty days of poetry posts have come and gone. I always embark on an April project and then about a week in wonder exactly what I've gotten myself into. I desperately needed to get back in the blogging habit, and these poetry posts were my kick start. I still didn't get to every book, poet, or theme I hoped, but still feel pretty pleased with what I did cover.

In case you missed one or two or more, here are my April poetry posts. Instead of simply listing by date, you'll find them grouped thematically.

Math, Science and Nature
29 - Evolution and Extinction
28 - Diggin' On Dinosaurs
18 - Snakes
17 - In the Garden
7 - Life in the Sea
5 - The Trip Around the Sun
4 - Crazy for Insects
3 - Math and Poetry

Language and Literature
30 - All About Poetry
24 - Spanish/English Poetry
22 - Concrete Poetry
14 - Amazing Acrostics
11 - Just Haiku

Music
27 - More Music! (Musical Poetry, Part 2)
26 - Just Jazz! (Musical Poetry, Part 1)

People and Places
25 - America in Poems
23 - In the Big City
20 - Notable Women
15 - Family Poems
10 - We Are All the Same
6 - Down on the Farm
2 - Of Castles and Commoners

Pets and Pastimes
16 - Feline Felicity
9 - Gone To the Dogs
8 - Take Me Out To the Ballgame

A Potpourri of Topics
21 - On Your Feet (Poetry about footwear!)
19 - Small Things
13 - Food, Glorious Food!
12 - Back to School
1 - A Red Wheelbarrow, LOVE THAT DOG, and Williams

Thanks for joining me for the ride. It's been fun.

Poetry in the Classroom - All About Poetry

2011-04-30T17:26:00.018-04:00

It's the last day of April and that means the poetry in the classroom series is about to come to a close. To wrap things up I'm sharing one last thematic list. Here are some great books for kids on reading and writing poetry. You'll find titles describing poetic forms, advice from poets, suggestions for writing poetry, and much more.

Fly With Poetry: An ABC of Poetry, written and illustrated by Avis Harley, uses the alphabet to organize 26 different poetic forms (two for the letter A and none for Y). Each page includes a poem written in the named form with information at the bottom of the page describing the form. Additional poetic forms are included in the end notes.

Leap Into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry, written and illustrated by Avis Harley, is a companion to FLY WITH POETRY that uses the alphabetic format to introduce a variety of poetic forms and techniques. Each letter introduces an arthropod in a poem that uses the stated form or technique. Facts about each animal are included in the end notes.
Write Your Own Poetry, written by Laura Purdie Salas, is a book that provides a thorough introduction to the process and tools of writing poetry. There are chapters on poetic forms, language of poetry, imagery, point of view, meter and rhyme, and more. Jam-packed with sample poems, helpful tips and advice from poets, this is a comprehensive introduction to writing poetry.

A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, compiled by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka, is a book that explains and provides examples for 29 different poetic forms. Each form is accompanied by some kind of visual clue in the top corner of the page. For example, the page for couplet shows two birds on a wire, epitaph shows a headstone, and ode shows a Grecian urn. Once the form has been identified, readers find a short informational description and poetic example. This volume not only contains many familiar forms, such as haiku, cinquain, acrostic and limerick, but also forms such as aubade, pantoum, villanelle, and double dactyl. At the end of the book readers will find a bit more background information on each of the forms.

R is For Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet, written by Judy Young and illustrated by Victor Juhasz, is a book that examines poetic forms, as well as some of the "tools" that poets use, such as onomatopoeia, metaphor, end rhyme and more. Each alphabet page contains a poetic or literary term and includes a poem. The "sidebar" on each page contains informational text that describes the form or tool and includes some tips for reading and writing poems.
Immersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet's Life, written by Allan Wolf and illustrated by Tuesday Morning, is a how-to guide for middle grades and young adults on becoming a poet. The book is divided into five major sections, each color-coded for ease of use. Poetry & You offers readers a quick guided tour of poetry, nine habits of successful poets, a writing pledge and more you. Your Poetry Toolbox explains the tools of the trade, such as poetic devices and the anatomy of a poem. The Poet's Decisions delves deep into the process of writing, providing lessons on point of view, tense, form, playing with structure, revising and much more. Always Something to Write About provides ideas for journaling and writing prompts. Ta Da!: Presenting Your Work is about reading, performing and publishing poetry. Liberally sprinkled throughout the text are examples and lots of poems from a range of poets. The book ends with appendices of selected poems and poets, as well as publishing resources for young writers.

Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme, selected by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Meilo So, is an interactive book in which readers are presented with poems arranged thematically and a sidebar box that includes an unfinished verse (called a poemstart) and suggestions for how to go about completing the poem. In some cases a list of rhyming words in included. Poem themes include dogs, food, birthdays, bugs, cows, friends, snow, turtles, rain, and self.

Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem, written by Jack Prelutsky, includes 20 writing tips, a variety of sample poems, and poemstarts for the beginning poetry writer. Readers will learn how to turn their experiences and stories about family, friends and pets into poems.

How to Write Poetry, written by Paul Janeczko, is a Scholastic Guide that organizes the poetry writing process in easy-to-follow steps. The chapters on starting to write, writing poems that rhyme, and writing free verse poems all offer a wealth of information, sample poems, and "try this" suggestions. Different poetic forms are introduced along with checklists to keep writer's focused on important features. Includes an extensive glossary.

Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers, written by Paul Janeczko, is a collection of 72 poems arranged alphabetically by subject. Also included are 14 poetry-writing exercises that show how to write specific types of poems and advice from more than twenty poets on becoming a better writer.
Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem From the Inside Out, written by Ralph Fletcher, is a good guide to writing poetry from the heart. Chapters deal with imagery, rhythm, crafting poems, wordplay, and more. Major poetic forms are defined and there is a section on ways to share your work. Interviews with Kristine O'Connell George, Janet Wong, and J. Patrick Lewis are included. A number of poems written by Fletcher are included as examples in these chapters.

Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for New Poets, compiled by Paul Janeczko, contains a collection of letters and poems by children's poets. Written to and for aspiring writers, this volume provides advice and inspiration.

The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work, selected by Paul Janeczko, is a collection of poems, advice, anecdotes, and recollections of 39 poets. Following their poems, poets describe their inspirations, memories, where they get their ideas, their writing processes, and how they go about translating their ideas in to poetic form.

If you are looking for additional resources on poetry writing, try these sites.

Scholastic's Writing with Writers site has a section on poetry. Kids can learn to write with Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin and Jean Marzollo.
Poetry4Kids has a section of "how to write" articles.
Elaine at Wild Rose Reader has written an article on Recipe & How to Make ... Poems.
You can view a range of kids poetry in a variety of forms at Magnificent Rainbow: Kids Form Poems.
Giggle Poetry has a poetry class section with lots of lessons on writing poetry.
ReadWriteThink has a series of lesson plans and online tools for writing diamante poems, shape poems, acrostic poems and some associated lesson plans.
If you want to experiment with different types of poetry, check out these instant poetry forms.
PBSKids has a site called Fern's Poetry Club, where kids can learn more about writing a poem.
Poet Marilyn Singer has ten tips for writing poetry.
Poet Joyce Sidman has some tips for writers and poets.
Poet Kristine O'Connell George has some tips for young poets.

April may be ending, but that doesn't mean the poetry goodness must stop. I hope you'll revisit some of the posts from this month and think about using these terrific books in your classroom.

Poetry in the Classroom - Evolution and Extinction

2011-04-29T21:20:00.013-04:00

I wasn't sure what to call this post, but before the month winds down, I want to share a few books of nature poetry that are in some way related to Darwin and issues of evolution and extinction.

An Old Shell: Poems of the Galapagos, written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Tom Pohrt, is a collection of 34 poems in which Johnston pays tribute to the wonder that is the Galapagos. I'll begin at the end of the book and share an excerpt from the author's note.

After reading about them for a lifetime, in 1995 I visited the Galapagos. When you stand in this place, wild and vast and stark, looking out over the endless and shining skin of the sea, you hear the flutter and roar of Creation, feel the stir of your own beginnings upon the delicate chain of life. Here, you are at the core of the mystery and poetry of Nature.

These islands symbolize the peril that the entire earth faces. We can take it apart, sea turtle by sea turtle, shell by shell, but we cannot put it back together.

Meanwhile, as we struggle with our humanity, the sun bakes their old backs, the wind caresses the salt grass, the waves wash the Galapagos.

The book opens with a two-page map of the islands. The poem topics include the sea, the islands, animals, plants, and more. Here is one of my favorites.

Small White Flowers

At night the lava cactus blooms
In small white flowers. Its faint perfume
Floats upon the quiet dark
Along the lava still and stark
Where lone owl, old cold shadow, glides
While rice rat hugs the dark and hides.
When dawn comes up and darkness goes
Silently the petals close.
No one sees them in the gloom,
Small white flowers to please the moon.

Poem ©Tony Johnston. All rights reserved.

Most of the poems in this collection are written in free verse, though a few are written in haiku.
The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination, with poems selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, is a stunning collection of poetry and information. The book includes a CD where many of the selected poets read their own works. Included among the authors are William Blake, Joseph Bruchac, Emily Dickinson, T. S Eliot, Barbara Juster Esbensen, Douglas Florian, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, D. H. Lawrence, Myra Cohn Livingston, David, McCord, Eve Merriam, Lilian Moore, Ogden Nash, Mary Oliver, Carl Sandburg, Alice Schertle, Joyce Sidman, Walt Whitman, and Valerie Worth, and many more. Here's a bit from the introduction that will give you a sense of how this anthology was put together.

Like Darwin, anthologists are passionate collectors, but the specimens we collect are poems. However, the process of collection in both areas is similar. At first, we simply gathered together as many poems as we could find that fit the subject we have chosen for your book. Then we decided how the book would be organized and we sorted our poems into the various categories we had chosen. The next step was putting the poems into some sort of order within these divisions so that they related thematically to their immediate neighbors.
. . .
The poems in this book explore many of the roots and limbs of Darwin's Tree, the branching tree that shows the connections among all forms of life. For some of these poems, we have offered brief comments or pointed out links to other poems.

The books is divided into the sections named below. For each one you'll find a brief excerpt or description of the kinds of poems in that section.

Oh, Fields of Wonder - "Both poets and scientists wonder at and about the world."
The Sea is Our Mother - "The poems in this section recall life's watery origins as well as the Earth's own geological beginnings. "
Prehistoric Praise - Fossil poems
Think Like a Tree - "We wouldn't be here without plants."
Meditations of a Tortoise - "In both Iroquois and Hindu legends, the earth is supported on the back of a giant turtle."
Some Primal Termite - "Naturalists define fitness as the ability of a species to reproduce itself in the greatest numbers and to adapt to the widest range of environments. According to this definition, insects are the fittest of all living creatures."
Everything That Lives Wants to Fly - "Along with Archaeopteryx (the earliest known bird), Darwin's finches play a key role in evolutionary theory."
I Am the Family Face - Poems on family in all its forms
Hurt No Living Thing - "It is natural for species to go extinct, but the rate at which this is happening today is unprecedented."

Here is one of the poems. Can you guess which section it is found in?

Cross-Purposes

The fickle bee believes it’s he
Who profits from the flower;
But as he drinks, the flower thinks
She has him in her power.

Her nectar is the reason
That she blooms, the bee is sure;
But flower knows her nectar
Is there merely for allure.

And as he leaves, the bee believes
He”ll sample someone new;
But flower knows that where he goes,
Her pollen’s going, too.

Poem ©Mary Ann Hoberman. All rights reserved.

Footnotes accompany many of the poems. These include explications of both the content and form of the poem. There is also a glossary of scientific and poetic terms, as well as a brief biography of the included poets.
Swan Song: Poems of Extinction, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Christopher Wormell, is a collection of 20 poems that pay tribute to species that have disappeared since crossing paths with humankind. The book opens with these disturbing words.

More than ninety-nine percent of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.
. . .
On Earth, six animal species die every hour, many of the most recent due to climate change, habitat destruction, or human greed, carelessness or indifference.

A timeline runs across the bottom of the pages, with the poems ordered by when a species became extinct. You'll also find its scientific name and where it once lived. The first poem is to the aurochs, a species from which modern cattle descended that died out c. 1627. The last poem is to Miss Waldron's red Colobus monkey, a species that died out in 2000. In between you'll find familiar and unfamiliar animals, like the dodo and the blue buck.

The Arizona Jaguar

Description: Loner; nightfall eyes;
Coat of spots on spots (disguise);
Once the New World's largest cat;
Mountain, grassland habitat;
Fed on any kind of meat;
Stumbled down a one-way street;
Color of a jealous sun.
Status: Nowhere. Future: None.

Poem ©J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

The book concludes with a series of endnotes describing each animal in further detail.

Here are a few sites with more information about these topics.

Life Has a History is a unit of study that provides students with an introduction to the history of life and how it results in the biodiversity of today. This site includes a helpful teacher's guide.
The Prehistoric Timeline at National Geographic highlights made events in Earth and human history.
Charles Darwin and Evolution is a site that celebrates the life, work and impact of Charles Darwin. Be sure to check out the pages for teachers, as well as the pages for kids.
The Extinct Animals Gallery has images and information about species that are now extinct.
Becoming Human is an interactive documentary experience that tells the story of our origins. The interactive timeline is very cool.
Play the evolution experience game where you take on the role of a young bird trying to live long enough to reproduce.
The Learning Zone at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has information on extinct and endangered species.

Do you have a favorite book of poetry that addresses issues of evolution and extinction? If so, please share. I'd love to add your ideas to this post.

Poetry Friday - Ode on My Mother's Handwriting

2011-04-29T00:01:00.002-04:00

My mother still sends cards and letters, so I'm always thrilled to catch a glimpse of her handwriting waiting for me in the mailbox. Barbara Hamby knows just how I feel.

Ode on My Mother's Handwriting
by Barbara Hamby

Her a's are like small rolls warm from the oven, yeasty,
fragrant, one identical to the other, molded
by a master baker, serious about her craft, but comical, too,
smudge of flour on her sharp nose, laughing
with her workers, urging them to eat, eat, eat, but demanding
the most gorgeous cakes in Christendom.
Her b's are upright as soldiers trained by harsh sergeants,
whose invective seems cruel in the bower of one's
own country but becomes hot gruel and a wool coat
during January on the steppes outside Moscow.

Read the poem in its entirety. (You can also listen to Garrison Keilor read it!)

Week 4 of National Poetry Month continued with the following poetry in the classroom posts.

22 - Concrete Poetry
23 - In the Big City
24 - Spanish/English Poetry
25 - America in Poems
26 - Just Jazz! (Musical Poetry, Part 1)
27 - More Music! (Musical Poetry, Part 2)
28 - Diggin' On Dinosaurs

The round up is being hosted by Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference. Do take some time to enjoy all the terrific posts this week. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry in the Classroom - Diggin' on Dinosaurs

2011-04-28T00:01:00.004-04:00

What is it about dinosaurs that so captures the attention of children? Is it their size? The mystery? Or perhaps it's the fact that every time a new skeleton, nest, or coprolite is unearthed we learn something new. So, in celebration of our longstanding fascination with dinosaurs, here are some poetic connections.

Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings, written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, is a collection of 20 poems chock full of information about dinosaurs. Each double page spread contains an illustration and a poem. The illustrations were done with gouache, collage, colored pencils, stencils, dinosaur dust, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags and are full of interesting little tidbits. For example, the pages for the poem Iguanodon has a female dinosaur (Iguano-Donna) who is wearing bracelets and a pearl necklace. Before, during, and after reading the accompanying poems they beg to be looked over carefully. The poems themselves are laced with puns, word play, and made-up words. A pronunciation guide for each dinosaur name and the name’s meaning are included below each title. Here's an example.

Pterosaurs
TERR-oh-sawrs (winged lizards)

The pterrifying pterosaurs
Flew ptours the ptime of dinosaurs.
With widespread wings and pteeth pto ptear,
The pterrorized the pteeming air.
They were not ptame.
They were ptenacious--
From the Ptriassic
Pto the Cretaceous.

Poem ©Douglas Florian. All rights reserved.

You can check out some of the artwork and read additional poems from the book at Florian Cafe.
Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast, written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel, is a collection of 14 poems that tantalizingly trip off the tongue. They are humorous and full of rhythm and rhyme. The table of contents includes a thumbnail of each dinosaur next to the dinosaur's name, time period it lived in, where it came from, and its size. Along with each poem is an illustration of the dinosaur, a pronunciation guide, and meaning of the name.

Brachiosaurus
Brak-ee-uh-sawr-us
"Arm Lizard"

Brachiosaurus had little to do
but stand with its head in the treetops and chew,
it nibbled the leaves that were tender and green,
it was a perpetual eating machine.

Brachiosaurus was truly immense,
its vacuous mind was uncluttered by sense,
it hadn't the need to be clever and wise,
no beast dared to bother a being its size.

Brachiosaurus was clumsy and slow,
but then, there was nowhere it needed to go,
if Brachiosaurus were living today,
no doubt it would frequently be in the way.

Poem ©Jack Prelutsky. All rights reserved.

This book was published in 1988, so you should be aware that most likely a few of the facts about these dinosaurs have changed since then. Though some of the poems may be dated, this does not change how much fun it is to read these aloud.
Bone Poems, written by Jeff Moss and illustrated by Tom Leigh, is a collection of 42 poems inspired by the bones of dinosaurs and early mammals found at the American Museum of Natural History. Some of the titles are extraordinarily long, but they are funny and often a meaningful part of the poem. In some cases the titles ask a question or provide important information. The poems are all rhyming, many of them written in limerick form. Here are two examples.

What You Should Answer If Some
Scientist Comes Up to You and Says,
"What Do All Proboscideans Have in
Common?"

Noses
Like hoses.

Incorrect

A dinosaur cheerfully winked,
And said, "I will not be extinct!
I'm too wise, I'm too clever,
I'll be here forever!"
(He wasn't as smart as he thinked.)

Poems ©Jeff Moss. All rights reserved.

This one ends with answers to a dinosaur math quiz, an apology for pages 70-71, and a pronunciation guide.
Dizzy Dinosaurs: Silly Dino Poems, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Barry Gott, is a collection of poems in which dinosaurs are the main characters in the kinds of everyday activities children engage in, such as eating lunch, playing at recess, riding the bus, and more. Since this is part of the I Can Read series, the vocabulary, structure of the poems, and use of rhyme are intended to support beginning readers. The book opens with a table of contents and section on how to say dinosaur names.

School Rules

No chomping
No romping
No treading on tails
No clawing
No climbing
No gnawing your nails
No roaring
No soaring
No sharpening teeth
No stamping
No stalking
Small friends to eat

These are rules
All dinos must follow
They keep school safe--
So no one gets swallowed!

Poem ©Sarah Hansen. All rights reserved.

You can read several poems from this book on the blogs of contributing poets. At the blog of Laura Purdie Salas you'll find the poem Acrocanthosaurus. At the blog of Linda Kulp you'll find the poem Saltopus. You can also browse inside the book at the Harper Collins web site.
Dinosaur Poems, compiled by John Foster and illustrated by Korky Paul, is a collection of 21 humorous poems about dinosaurs that engage in human activities, often with dire results. Contributions come from a variety of poets, though you may not recognize many of them since this is an Oxford University Press publication.

Companion

I have an allosaurus
And I take him everywhere,
And really I can't understand
Why people stop and stare.

He's loving, kind and gentle,
He wouldn't hurt a soul,
Unless of course you laughed at him--
And then he'd eat you whole!

Poem ©Clive Webster. All rights reserved.

You'll find poems about dinosaurs singing in the chorus, eating the fridge, having a party, stuck in the bath, grinding up bones, and much more.
Dinosaur Dances, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Bruce Degen, contains 17 poems about dinosaurs dancing the night away. You'll find dinosaurs waltzing, square dancing, doing ballet, hula, and more. The words and rhymes in these poems create a rhythmic beat that mimics the dances they are describing. Here is the title poem.

Dinosaur Dances

When the lights went low
Over prehistoric plains,
And the music beat
In rhythm with the rains,
All the mud and ooze
Showed the scientist remains
Of a prehistoric party.
Here's Tyrannosaurus
Dancing on his toes.
Here is Stegosaurus
In a ballet pose.
And with airy Pterodactyls
Anything goes
At a prehistoric party.
Brontosaurus sits
And waits this number out.
But here's Allosaurus
Doing "Twist and Shout"
And seven little Coelurosaurs
Hopping all about
At the prehistoric party
"Goodness gracious,
It's Cretaceous
Party time again!"

Poem ©Jane Yolen. All rights reserved.

All of the poems from this book have been set to music. You can list to an excerpt of the poem Ms A Hulas at Lui Collins web site.
Dinosaurs, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Murray Tinkelman, is a collection of 18 poems that pays homage to dinosaurs in museums and in our dreams. In that respect, this one has a very different feel than many of the other books in this set that focus on the beasts themselves, whether described as animals or creatures with human qualities.

Dreamscape

A giant came into my dream
And thundered to and fro.
As thunder-lizards often do
He traveled high and low.
He shook the hills and mountaintops
And spilled the seven seas.
He drank eleven rivers,
He ate a hundred trees.
But even thunder-giants sleep--
He wandered off to find his bed.
I didn't notice where he went,
I simply, quickly, woke instead!

Poem ©Lillian M. Fisher. All rights reserved.

You'll find poems here by Bobbi Katz, Patricia Hubbell, Valerie Worth, Myra Cohn Livingston, and others. This title was selected as an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book in 1988.

There are a HUGE number of dinosaur resources on the web. Here are a few of my favorites.

Sue at The Field Museum. You do know who Sue is, right?
Visit The Dinosauria at the University of California Museum of Paleontology has a wealth of information about dinosaurs and the fossil record.
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has a dinosaur site with a great deal of information and interactives.
See how much you know about dinosaurs by taking this Brainteaser quiz at National Geographic Kids.
The Discovery Channel has a comprehensive guide to dinosaurs.
BBC Nature Prehistoric Life is the companion to a number of BBC shows. You'll find a wealth of information here.
The Natural History Museum (UK) has a great dinosaur site for kids.
The San Diego Natural History Museum has a dinosaur dig site with dinosaur data and fossil facts.
Paso Partners has a fabulous dinosaur unit for kindergarten.
Check out this brief annotated bibliography of some dinosaur-related books.
The Incredible @rt Department has a terrific lesson on making paper mache dinosaurs.
Discovery Education has a lesson for elementary students entitled Discovering Dinosaurs.
The Scholastic teachers site has a guide to dinosaurs that is packed with materials for students and teachers. Don't miss the interactive whiteboard resources!
The Academy of Natural Sciences has a a teacher site with a number of resources on dinosaurs.
The Smithsonian Magazine blog has a post on the best dinosaur books for kids.

Okay, if I don't stop now I'll keep on going! If I've missed a great dinosaur poetry book or web site, please let me know.

Poetry in the Classroom - More Music! (Musical Poetry, Part 2)

2011-04-27T00:01:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I began this topic looking at poetry books about jazz. Today I'm focusing on music in a range of musical styles, so put on something you love to listen to and read along.

Song Shoots Out of My Mouth, written by Jaime Adoff and illustrated Martin French, is a collection of twenty four poems that reflect a variety of musical styles and instruments in content and form. The poems sing with the same rhythms you would expect to hear in the music. They are perfect for read aloud and almost demand to be sung, or swung, tapped, rapped, drummed, and more. Here is a poem related to jazz.

Jazz Bath

            Be Bop bubbles go
up my nose and I blow into my horn.
            Pass the soap and the eighth notes, drip
into my eyes.
            No more tears
            no more fears.
My sax speaks for me. Says what I can't say. Which is a lot
these days. Now, teenage.
            I trade 4's and 8's with Bird and Trane.
Outside my bathroom door;
            I hear the roar of the crowd,
the roar of the crowd!
            The roar of my sister screaming,
            "GET OUT!"

Poem ©Jaime Adoff. All rights reserved.

The back matter for this book includes a section called Backnotes which includes musical terms and descriptions, as well as an overview of selected artists and suggested listening material. If you haven't seen this one, you're really missing something special. (If you didn't know it, this book was named an honor book for the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award in 2003.)
Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World, written by Marilyn Nelson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, is the story an all-female, racially integrated swing band that toured the United States during World War II. What makes this story unique is that it is told in poems, each in the voice of a band members’ instrument, each titled after a song of the era. It all begins in a pawnshop where a tenor saxophone describes its glory years in an all girl band. Other instruments begin to respond, and soon enough, all of them are sharing stories about days gone by.

With a twilit velvet musky tone
as the pawnshop door is locked,
an ancient tenor saxophone
spins off a riff of talk.
“A thousand thousand gigs ago,
when I was just second-hand,”
it says, “I spent my glory years
on the road with an all-girl band.”
From a shelf in the corner, three trombones
bray in unison: They say
they, too, were played in a gals’ swing band
way back in the day.
Then effortlessly, a blues in C
arises out of a phrase
and the old hocked instruments find the groove
and swing of the Good Old Days.

Poem ©Marilyn Nelson. All rights reserved.

And now for a musical interlude, courtesy of the Sweethearts of Rhythm.

Call Down the Moon: Poems of Music, selected by Myra Cohn Livingston, is a collection of 136 poems divided into 12 sections, arranged by how we listen to and remember music, as well as by type of instrument (keyboard and strings, fiddles and cellos, banjos and guitars, woodwinds, brass and percussion). In a volume so extensive, I have many favorites. Here is one of them.

Music Becomes Me

as water
becomes the creek
trilling, filling it
giving it voice.

Music becomes me
like sparks
zipping
through electric wires
making light of dark.

Music becomes me
as wind
becomes the storm
swishing, swaying me
tapping my feet
thrusting my hands up
like castanets chattering.

Caught in its breath
I dance on winter's roof.

Poem ©Marni McGee. All rights reserved.

In this volume you'll find poems by Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Edward Lear, X.J. Kennedy, Valerie Worth, April Halprin Wayland, and many others.
Roots and Blues: A Celebration, written by Arnold Adoff and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, is a collection of poems and prose that traces the history of the blues while celebrating its culture and the strength of the people who created it. As Adoff takes readers through a historical journey, he introduces readers to many blues performers including B. B. King, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and others. The history of the blues is a difficult one, so the poems are filled with high emotion. The works themselves are visually appealing, crafted so that the spacing of letters and breaks in lines give each their own rhythm and shape. While they need to really be seen and reflected on, they also demand to be read aloud.

I've seen a lot of poems from this book floating around already, so instead of adding another to the mix, please take some time to visit the thoughtful reviews at Writing and Ruminating and Poetry for Children to read excerpts from the book.

Here are some resources that you may find useful in examining a range of musical forms in the classroom.

Kirkus has produced a useful booklist entitled Music and Harmony in Children's Poetry.
The SFSKids site has interactives about the instruments of the orchestra, a music lab, the tempo of music, and more.
The New York Philharmonic Kidzone has a wealth of material to explore including sections like the composition workshop, meet the composers, instrument storage room, instrument lab, and more.
Classics for Kids has a wealth of information about classical music and jazz, as well as audio clips, interactive games, lesson plans and more.
The Blues Classroom has a number of lesson plans, teacher's guide, blues glossary, and more.
EDSITEment has a terrific lesson for elementary students entitled Learning the Blues.

Have I missed a favorite musically-inclined book of poetry? Please let me know so that I can include it here.

Poetry in the Classroom - Just Jazz! (Musical Poetry, Part 1)

2011-04-26T15:37:00.007-04:00

Music has always been a big part of my life. I grew up listening to jazz, big band, and Dixieland music. During my adolescence I sat a few rows back from center stage at Artpark and heard the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Joe Williams. As I grew and made some of my own concert choices, I found myself watching Billy Joel, Elton John, The Police, Bon Jovi, Run DMC, Garth Brooks, and others. Today I still attend concerts in a wide range of musical forms. Given my love of music, it seems only fitting that music would find it's way into my poetic life.

Today for part one of this musical journey I'm focusing on jazz, so put on some Armstrong (I'm listening to Jelly Roll Morton!) and read along.

Jazz, written by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers, is a collection of poems covering the history of jazz that begins along the Nile and ends on Bourbon Street. In between it covers ragtime to boogie, and every style in between. The poems are accompanied by vibrant paintings that celebrate different styles of jazz.

Start with rhythm
Start with the heart
Along the Nile
A black man's drum
Speaks
LOVE
Start with
RHYTHM
Start with
the HEART
Work songs
Gospel
Triumph
Despair
Voices
Lifted
From the soul

Poem ©Walter Dean Myers. All rights reserved.

In addition to the poems, the book opens with a terrific introduction to jazz and includes a selective glossary and chronology.

Becoming Billie Holiday is a fictional verse memoir that tells the story of Holiday's life from birth through age 25. The poems carry titles from Billie’s songbook. The writing is tender and vivid, matter-of-factly portraying the ups and downs that dominated the singer's life. You'll see from the cover image that this book was awarded a Coretta Scott King honor award for writing. Here is one of the poems from this book.

How Deep Is The Ocean
Without the microphone
there would be no spotlight,
no band backing me
with bluesy swing.

My voice was too small,
barely an octave,
but the mic enlarged my songs,
let me hold listeners close.

With the microphone,
my voice was an ocean,
deep as my moods,
and audiences dove in.

Poem ©Carole Boston Weatherford. All rights reserved.

What is a fictional verse memoir? Weatherford explains it this way.

It combines elements of the novel, biography, oral history, persona poem, and one-woman show into a unique genre. The fictional verse memoir is ideally suited to Billie Holiday's sassy, soulful and sophisticated style.

Weatherford has created a web site for the book where you will find a reading guide, book trailer, and other informative links.
Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits with Art Print, written by Wynton Marsalis and illustrated by Paul Rogers, is a collection of 26 verse profiles of jazz greats, with each poem reflecting the musical style of the musician or performer. Brief biographies by Phil Schapp are included for each artist. Here is an excerpt from the first poem.

Armstrong

Armstrong.
Armstrong almighty!
An ad-libbing acrobat.
American ambassador of affirmation.
Adventurous author of ambrosial aires.
Absolute architect of the Jazz Age.

Poem ©Wynton Marsalis. All rights reserved.

What you need to know about this poem is that the words on the page are spaced in such a way that it forms the triangular outline of the letter A, so you need to see the poem as well as read it aloud. The alliteration works well in this poem and many others. You can listen to this poem read in its entirety, as well as hear some others at the NPR web site.

Here are some resources that you may find useful in learning more about jazz.

Did you know that April is Jazz Appreciation Month?
PBS Jazz Kids has information about jazz greats, a timeline, interactives to experiment with playing or leading a band, and more.
Jazz lesson plans is the educator site accompanying PBS Jazz Kids.
NEA Jazz in the Schools is a "web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit that explores jazz as an indigenous American art form and as a means to understand American history."
The classroom section for the Ken Burns film JAZZ has a number of lesson resources and materials for teachers.
Smithsonian Jazz at the National Museum of American History presents a range of resources to explore, appreciate, and experience jazz. Be sure to check out the education resources.
Jazz for Young People is the online component of the Lincoln Center's jazz curriculum. It provides information about the history of jazz and its artists and includes recordings, readings, photographs, videos, and activities.
The Jazz Institute of Chicago has an article entitled Jazz for the Youngest Hep Cats that highlights some songs and books useful for introducing children to this musical form.

Have I missed a favorite jazzed up book of poetry? Please let me know so that I can include it here.

**NOTE** - Part 2 of Musical Poetry continues with a focus on swing, blues and other musical forms or musically inspired poetry. (Don't worry, you'll see titles by Marilyn Nelson, Arnold Adoff, and Jaime Adoff tomorrow!)

Poetry in the Classroom - America in Poems

2011-04-25T14:43:00.006-04:00

I love poems that introduce and explore places, particularly places I've never been. Here are some books that explore America in poetry.

Home to Me: Poems Across America, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, is described this way in the Editor's Note (written by Lee).

Where we live—the place we call home—strongly influences our way of life.

Whether on lives on a prairie where a child ". . . pedals through grasses/bone dry, needle thin", a reservation where "Mother Earth is always beneath our feet", or a city where one wakes up to hear "sputters/of sweepers/swooshing litter/from gutters", home is an integral part of growing up, being, becoming.
.
.
.
Home to Me reveals home and heart, the pulse that makes our country so unique—the beat that makes us all individuals—yet one.

This particular anthology is comprised of 15 commissioned works by poets from across the U.S., including Jane Yolen, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Tony Johnston, Janet Wong, Ann Whitford Paul, Joan Bransfield Graham, Alice Schertle, Joseph Bruchac, and others. There are poems here about home in the desert, the prairie, the New Jersey shore, the mountains, a reservation, a cattle ranch, a farm, and more. Here is an excerpt from one poem.

My Desert Home

Here on Table Mesa
I look down on endless sand
That seems to spread forever
Over barren lonely land.
My home is on the stony ridge
Of a prehistoric sea
Where brittle bushes shine their gold
In shade of a single tree.
A cactus like a one-armed man
Is pointing to the sky.

Poem ©Lillian M. Fisher. All rights reserved.

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, is a collection of 50 poems grouped by geographic region. It includes the northeast states, Capital, southeast states, Great Lakes states, plains states, mountain states, southwest states, and Pacific coast states. The section for each region is prefaced with a map and facts about each state, including capital, nickname, motto, bird, flower, tree, area, and one "great fact." Here's a poem from the Pacific coast region.

California Missions

They're tall and sturdy,
four feet thick,
built of stone
and mortar, brick.
Through quakes and plagues
each ancient wall
has stayed in place
and stood up tall.
No mouth to speak,
no ears to hear,
yet they hold tales
of ancient years.
I sit inside
and listen well
to every word
their silence tells.

Poem ©Ann Whitford Paul. All rights reserved.

Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art, written by Diane Siebert and illustrated by Stephen T. Johnson, is a collection of 26 poems of varying length about a range of places and things around the United States. In her author's note, Siebert explains how a summer motorcycle trip across the U.S. turned into a 10-year journey around the country. In TOUR AMERICA she wrote about some of her favorite sights, including the Everglades, gargoyles, Lucy the Elephant, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Old Faithful, The Golden Gate bridge, and more. The book opens with a map of the U.S. with dots and illustrated captions highlighting the sights. Here's a poem about one of my favorite places.

Niagara Falls
New York

Niagara Falls
great tumbling walls
of water
frothy white
all pouring down
and
roaring down
and
rainbowed by the light

Poem ©Diane Siebert. All rights reserved.

Each poem in this collection is accompanied by a brief bit of informational text. Here's the text for this poem.

NIAGARA FALLS - Although half of the water from the Niagara River is diverted into tunnels for use in power plants downstream, about 500,000 gallons of water still pour over the cliff's edge every second. Over the years, daredevils have plunged to the bottom in barrels and other containers. A few have even survived.

The illustrations beautifully complement the poems. In the artist's note Johnson says "And so, in keeping with the forms, contents, and moods of Diane's poems, my artwork, in a variety of mediums--acrylic, charcoal, colored pencils, collage, gouache, graphite, ink, oils, pastel, photography and watercolors--celebrates the colors, diversity, and rich textures of America."

If you are interested in more poetry about places and using poetry to teach geography, consider these links.

Poetry of Place - This site encourages the reading and writing of poetry in geography instruction and includes many fine examples of student work.
Travel Pals - In this geography unit, a class sends out four different stuffed animals across the United States to learn about U.S. geography through the eyes of the Travel Pals. Poetry books can be used to support instruction.
For additional poetry books with a geography theme, try these titles.
- A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Alison Jay
- GOT Geography!, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Philip Stanton
Pair poetry and music while studying places in the U.S. and try this lesson on Music From Across America.
The Picturing America gallery (particularly the landscapes) offers some nice images for writing ekphrastic poems.

Do you have a favorite book of poetry about America? Or a great idea for a geography-oriented poetry lesson? Or a poetically-inclined geography lesson? If so, please share!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Macaronic Verse

2011-04-25T08:18:00.002-04:00

Back in 2009 we wrote poems in the form of macaronic verse. This seems like a good time to revisit the form. The Handbook of Poetic Forms defines macaronic verse in this fashion.

Macaronic verse is a peculiar, rare and often comic form of poetry that sometimes borders on nonsense. It is a mixture of two (or more) languages in a poem, in which the poet usually subjects one language to the grammatical laws of another to make people laugh.

Poetry Base describes macaronic verse this way.

The definition is a poem in a mixture of two languages, one of them preferably Latin. Usually the mixture of languages is a bit absurd. The word of one language may be terminated with common endings in the other.

You can read more at Wikipedia and learn a bit about the history of this form.

So, your challenge for this week is to write a poem that uses more than one language. If you don't know another language, make one up. Pig Latin, anyone? Leave me a comment about your macaronic verse and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry in the Classroom - Spanish/English Poetry

2011-04-24T17:08:00.017-04:00

Earlier in the month I wrote about food poetry where I included an excerpt from the book Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup: Un poema para cocinar/A Cooking Poem, written by Jorge Argueta and illustrated by Rafael Yockteng. That got me thinking that English/Spanish poetry might be a good topic for exploring.

Several years ago while looking for some bilingual poetry for a student teacher, I stumbled across the book Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems/Iguanas en la nieve: y otros poemas de invierno, written by Francisco Alarcón and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. The vibrant art on the cover reeled me in, and once I was inside the magic of the poems enchanted me. Here's one I suggested she use with her ESL students, all recent immigrants, all Spanish-speaking.

Ode to Buena
Vista Bilingual School

here Spanish
goes to school
with English

uno-dos-tres
is as easy as
one-two-three

here children
of all races write
beautiful poems

in English
and Spanish
even in spirals

and following
the beat of teacher
Felipe's clave

here children
learn to sing
with their hearts

Oda a la Escuela
Bilingüe de Buena Vista

aqui el español
va a la escuela
con el inglés

uno-dos-tres
es tan fácil como
one-two-three

aqui niños de todas
las razas escriben
bellos poemas

tanto en inglés
como en español
hasta en espiral

y siguiendo
la clave del
maestro Felipe

aqui los niños
aprenden a cantar
con el corazón

Finding this first book of Alarcón's led me to the remaining books in his Magical Cycle of the Seasons series. Here's a poem found in From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems/Del Ombligo de la Luna: Y Otros Poemas de Verano.

Ode to My Shoes

my shoes
rest
all night
under my bed

tired
they stretch
and loosen
their laces

wide open
they fall asleep
and dream
of walking

they revisit
the places
they went to
during the day

and wake up
cheerful
relaxed
so soft

Oda a mis zapatos

mis zapatos
descansan
toda la noche
bajo mi cama

cansados
se estiran
se aflojan
las cintas

muy anchose
se duermen
y sueñan
con andar

recorren
los lugares
adonde fueron
en el día

y amanecen
contentos
relajados
suavecitos

Other titles in this series include Laughing Tomatoes: And Other Spring Poems/Jitomates Risuenos: Y Otros Poemas de Primavera and Angels Ride Bikes: And Other Fall Poems/Los Angeles Andan en Bicicleta: Y Otros Poemas de Otoño. All the books in the series are written by Francisco Alarcón and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. In addition to these titles, look for Animal Poems of the Iguazu/Animalario del Iguazu (also illustrated Gonzalez).

**UPDATED** - Check out Alarcón's original poem, On Monday I Feel Like a Dragon/El lunes me siento como un dragón, posted as part of the 30 Poets/30 Days celebration at GottaBook.

A Movie in My Pillow/Una pelicula en mi almohada, written by Jorge Argueta and illustrated by Elizabeth Gomez, is a series of poems based on his life when he first came to this country. Argueta's poems are so vivid that it is easy to imagine the sights, sounds, and smells of a new home. Here is an example.

Wonders of the City
Here in the city there are
wonders everywhere

Here mangoes
come in cans

In El Salvador
they grew on trees

Here chickens come
in plastic bags

Over there
they slept beside me

Las maravillas de la ciudad
Aquí en esta ciudad
todo es maravilloso

Aquí los mangos
vienen enlatados

En El Salvador
crecían en árboles

Aquí las gallinas vienen
en bolsas de plástico

Allá se dormían
junto a mí

A Movie in My Pillow/Una pelicula en mi almohada was Argueta's first book for children. Published in 2001, it went on to win the Américas Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. To see examples of the artwork and read some additional poems, you can preview the book at the International Children's Digital Library.

Talking with Mother Earth/Hablando con madre tierra: Poems/Poemas, written by Jorge Argueta and illustrated by Lucia Angela Perez, allows readers to experience the depth of Argueta's roots in El Slavador and his strong connection to the people and the land. The poems in this collection cover a range of topics. Here is one of my favorite poems from the book.

The Corn

The corn's spirit
becomes delicious and happy
when we plant its tiny seeds
in Mother Earth.

After four days
the corn sprouts.
At first it is like a little worm
stretching, searching for the sun's light.

Later a leaf is born
from the stem
thin as a thread
sweet and green like a caress.

The plant keeps growing and growing
till from its center comes an ear of corn
a bearded child
laughing with all its teeth.

When I finally eat it
in tortillas
or tamales or atol
I start to smile like the corn.

Poem ©Jorge Argueta. All rights reserved.

In addition to these titles you will find two books by Argueta that were written as cooking poems. The first is Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup: Un poema para cocinar/A Cooking Poem, illustrated by Rafael Yockteng. The second is Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding: Un poema para cocinar/A Cooking Poem, illustrated by Fernando Vilela.
Finally, for younger children I recommend ¡Pio Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes, selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, with English adaptations by Alice Schertle, and illustrations by Vivi Escriva. Here is an excerpt from the introduction of the book to provide some background for this collection.

Hispanic oral folklore is very rich. Its winged words have conveyed families' cultures and traditions from generation to generation. Some rhymes and songs have remained nearly intact along their extensive journeys on both sides of the Atlantic. Others have been enriched by the contributions of the various groups that make up the Hispanic world. All provide joy and delight in our heritage.

In the twenty-first century, this cultural wealth is reaching new frontiers. More than thirty-five million Latinos contribute their traditions to the cultural mosaic that is the United States.

This book offers a small sample of this wealth, presented in two languages so that it can be meaningful to both Spanish and English speakers. To preserve the charm of the original rhymes, the English version is not a translation but a poetic re-creation. In some instances, the details are different, but the re-creation remains true to the essence of the original.

Here is one of the 29 rhymes in the collection.

El sol es de oro
la luna es de plata
y las estrellitas
son de hoja de lata.

The sun's a gold medallion.
The moon's a silver ball.
The little stars are only tin;
I love them best of all.

You can read more of the introduction and preview some of the text at the Harper Collins web site.

If you are looking for additional resources on bilingual poetry or picture books, check out some of these links.

Download an elementary lesson plan focused on the poems and art in A Movie in My Pillow.
La Bloga is a blog about Chicana Chicano Literature, Chicana Chicano Writers, Children's Literature, News, Views, and reviews. Be sure to check out the children's literature section.
Los Bloguitos is a blog for children who speak or are learning Spanish. It contains songs, poems, cuentos, dichos and riddles.
Over at La Bloga, author René Colato Laínez wrote a six-part series entitled Living to Tell the Story: The Authentic Latino Immigrant Experience in Picture Books. Be sure to read each post. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Both Groundwood Books and Children's Book Press have fine selections of books for children representing their Latino heritage.

Have I missed a favorite volume of Spanish/English poetry? If so, please let me know.

Poetry in the Classroom - In the Big City

2011-04-23T21:12:00.006-04:00

I read (and write) a lot of poetry about animals and nature, but I am also quite fond of poems about the city. Good poems about the city capture the sights, sounds and smells and catapult me back my days walking the streets of New York City. Life in the big city is vastly different from the rural area where I grew up, and for many students, life in the big city may be just as foreign. Here are some poetry selections that capture life in the city.

City I Love, written by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Marcellus Hall, is a collection of poems that Lee wrote about city life and living. Even though the illustrations depict cities around the world, the sights, sounds, and sentiments are the same. You'll find poems here about subways, taxis, zoos, weather, bridges, lights and more. I can't say enough about how much these poems made me want to run right off to to the big city for a fix. You'll feel the same when you read them. Here is my favorite poem from the collection

MOTHER'S PLEA

Silence sirens.

Hush all horns.

Quiet rumbling

                    traffic roars.

Please
city

                    have
                    some
                    pity.

Promise me

                    not
                    one
                    more
                    beep?

My newborn

                    pigeons
                    need
                    their
                    sleep.

Poem ©Lee Bennett Hopkins. All rights reserved.

Two more books I like to use for capturing the spirit of the city are Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems, written by Lilian Moore and illustrated by Roma Karas and Sky Scrape/City Scape: Poems of City Life, with poems selected by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Ken Condon.

Mural on Second Avenue is a collection of 17 poems that celebrates the city through the seasons and at different times of day. Accompanied by vibrant oil illustrations, the city, as seen through the eyes of a young boy, comes to life. Whether it's looking out the window, walking through the neighborhood, or playing in the park, the poems in this book exude the energy of the city and its inhabitants. There are poems here about building skyscrapers, going around corners, window reflections, pigeons, a mural (lending itself to the title of the book), bridges and more. One of my favorites is this poem about the skyline.

Roofscape
The lines are
straight
and
many-cornered--
plunging,
rising high.

From my window
I can see
how roofs
design a sky.

Poem ©Lillian Moore. All rights reserved.

Sky Scrape/City Scape is an anthology of poems selected by Jane Yolen. The 25 poems contained inside come from notables like Langston Hughes, Myra Cohn Livingston, Jane Yolen, Carl Sandburg, Lee Bennett Hopkins and many others. The illustrations show crowded streets, fire escapes, graffiitied walls, buildings tall, a garbage dump, and much more. This collection of poems is full of life and almost as energetic as the city itself. Many of the poems on a double-page spread are connected thematically, like the series of poems on skyscrapers or those on street cleaning. Here is an excerpt from a poem by Norma Farber.

Manhattan Lullaby
Lulled by rumble, babble, beep,
let these little children sleep;
let these city girls and boys
dream a music in the noise,
hear a tune their city plucks
up from buses, up from trucks
up from engines wailing fire!
up ten stories high, and higher,

Poem ©Norma Farber. All rights reserved.

One more book I recommend including in this set is the updated classic by Gwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and Girls. Originally published in 1956, this new version is beautifully illustrated by Faith Ringgold. Each poem in this collection of 34 contains the name of a child. This child is either the subject of the poem or the person delivering it. Set in a Chicago neighborhood, these short poems highlight the highs and lows of life in the city, particularly big cities where many are poor. Even though most of the poems are light-hearted, a few are sad. An element of social consciousness is also evident in this collection. Here are a few examples.

Robert, Who is Often a Stranger to Himself
Do you ever look in the looking-glass
And see a stranger there?
A child you know and do not know,
Wearing what you wear?

Michael Is Afraid of the Storm
Lightning is angry in the night,
Thunder spanks our house.
Rain is hating our old elm—
It punishes the boughs.
Now, I am next to nine years old,
And crying’s not for me.
But if I touch my mother’s hand,
Perhaps no one will see.

Poems ©Gwendolyn Brooks. All rights reserved.

Altogether, these books provide varied glimpses of life in the city and what children living there may experience.

If you want to do some poetry writing about the city but can't get there, here are some resources to inspire you.

Carefree Cities has an online catalog of city photographs from all over the world.
NYCfoto has photos of New York City from every angle.
The world city photo archive contains more than 12,000 photos of cities worldwide.
National Geographic's Ultimate Cities Guide contains many city photos.

Poetry in the Classroom - Concrete Poetry

2011-04-22T18:05:00.009-04:00

What is a concrete poem? On his web site John Grandits says that "Concrete poems are poems that use fonts, and shape, and texture, and color, and sometimes motion."

In the last few years, many new concrete poetry books have been added to my list of favorites. I'm going to share a few here. Keep in mind that concrete poetry is about the marriage of words and form. Therefore, you need to SEE them to truly appreciate them. That means this post will have lots of links to sites where you can see the art in these poems.

A Curious Collection of Cats (2009) and its follow-up, A Dazzling Display of Dogs (2011), both written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Michael Wertz, are collections that explore the peculiarities and absurdities of cats and dogs in wildly energetic ways. First, just look at those covers! If the use of animals in forming the letters of the titles doesn't immediately suck you in, then hopefully a few of these interior shots will. Michael Wertz has generously posted images from the books on his Flickr stream. Take a look at these images from CATS and these from DOGS.

Technically, It's Not My Fault (2004) and Blue Lipstick (2007), both written and designed by John Grandits, are two collections designed for older readers. The first book is written from the point of view of a young boy named Robert. The poems reveal Robert's concerns with all things adolescent. He is at turns smart then immature. Poems topics include his older sister, the school bus (dubbed TyrannosaurBus Rex), ordering pizza for dinner, mowing the lawn and more. The second book is written from the point of view of Robert's older sister, Jessie. Her concerns are those of a typical teen, but Jessie is anything but typical. She is funny, sarcastic, and totally her own person. Poem topics include a bad hair day, a pep rally, volleyball practice, Advanced English, her mother's birthday and more. Both books use graphic design in unusual and surprising ways. You can see a few of the poems from TECHNICALLY and LIPSTICK on Grandits' web site. You can see a few more images using Google Book Preview for both TECHNICALLY AND LIPSTICK. Finally, be sure to visit Grandits' concrete poetry page often, as a new concrete poem is posted each month. Right now the poem being shared is "My Stupid Day."

Two books written by Joan Bransfield Graham, Splish Splash (2001) illustrated by Steve Scott, and Flicker Flash (2003) illustrated by Nancy Davis, are collections of concrete poems about the physical world. SPLISH SPLASH is a collection of 21 poems about water in a myriad of forms, including crocodile tears, ice cube, popsicle, snow, hail, dew and more. FLICKER FLASH is a collection of 23 poems that explores natural and man-made light sources, including the sun, birthday candles, an incubator bulb, lightning, a firefly, and more. At Google Books you can see examples from both SPLISH SPLASH and FLICKER FLASH.

Doodle Dandies, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Lisa Desimini, uses wordplay and surprising "movement" to make the topics come alive. The 19 poems in this book cover a variety of subjects, including giraffe, weeping willow, skyscraper, baseball, basketball, the oyster family, and more. Synchronized Swim Team uses the legs of upside-down swimmers to make its point, while Creep and Slither appears in the shape of a snake, until midpoint when the bulging word bull frog announces what's been eaten. You can view some poems/images from the book at Lisa Desimini's web site.

A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, selected by Paul Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka, includes a wide range of poems that are cleverly shaped and written. Eskimo Pie and Popsicle are both poems in the shape of ice cream. Swan and Shadow looks exactly like its title and is a lovely piece of work. You can view an inside spread from the book and download an activity page from the Candlewick web site. You can also get a brief preview from Google Books. Notice that the table of contents is in the form of a table!
Poetry Basics: Concrete Poetry, written by Valerie Bodden, is an analysis of the concrete poetry form, beginning with its origins and history while providing a range of examples through the present day. Here are some of the things Bodden says about this form.

The goal of the type of poetry known as concrete is to have the shape or appearance of a poem reflect what the words express (p.3).

While most traditional poems are meant to be read, concrete poems are meant to be seen. Looking at a concrete poem can be almost like looking at a painting. In fact, if you try to read a concrete poem out loud, much of its meaning may be lost (p.12).

The book ends with a section entitled "Think Like a Poet," which provides steps and encouragement for readers to write their own concrete poems. Also included are a list of books for further reading, a glossary, and bibliography.
Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Michelle Berg, is the story of a dog and cat trapped under a picnic table in a rainstorm. Since much of the verse forms the images on the page, readers will enjoy searching for the buried verses while reading the story. You can find a reader's guide at Joyce Sidman's site for MEOW RUFF.

Concrete poems are fun to write and challenge children to think in different ways about the objects and events they see in their world. For additional ideas on writing concrete poetry, here are some resources you may find useful.

At the readwritewiki you can find a lesson for using A POKE IN THE I to help students write their own concrete poems.
You can write concrete poetry online with the tools at Shape Poems or Concrete Poetry.
This site has ideas for writing concrete Poetry related to the Wright Brothers historic flight.
Learn more about graphic poetry from Brad Burg.
The BBC Visual Poetry site includes a page of visual poetry.
At ReadWriteThink you can find a lesson plan entitled Discovering Poetic Form and Structure Using Concrete Poems.
Poets.org has a guide to concrete poetry.
Laura Shovan of Author Amok has a nice lesson for teaching students to write concrete poetry.
Wordle is an interesting site for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.
Encourage students to write their own poems using these shape patterns as a guide.

Have I missed a favorite book of concrete poetry? If so, please let me know. I'd love to add it to the list.

Poetry Friday - A Shower

2011-04-22T00:01:00.015-04:00

I'm still reading the poetry of Amy Lowell. This piece was published in 1919 in a volume entitled Pictures of the Floating World.

A Shower
by Amy Lowell

That sputter of rain, flipping the hedge-rows
And making the highways hiss,
How I love it!
And the touch of you upon my arm
As you press against me that my umbrella
May cover you.

Tinkle of drops on stretched silk.
We murmur though green branches.

This poem and the book it was published in are in the public domain and have been digitized and made available by Google. You can read the entire volume simply by downloading a copy.

Week 3 of National Poetry Month continued with the following poetry in the classroom posts.

15 - Family Poems
16 - Feline Felicity
17 - In the Garden
18 - Snakes
19 - Small Things
20 - Notable Women
21 - On Your Feet

The round up is being hosted by Kate Coombs of Book Aunt. Do take some time to enjoy all the terrific posts this week. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry in the Classroom - On Your Feet

2011-04-21T20:33:00.008-04:00

I am not a shoe fanatic by any stretch of the imagination (I wear the same few pairs over and over and repair them so I can keep them!), but as a poetry lover it appears that I have a fondness for shoes.

Shoe Bop!, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Hiroe Nakata, is a story told in a collection of 29 poems connected by prose pieces. Here's how it begins.

Purple Sneakers

You purple sneakers, eight months old,
I've loved with all my heart.
We walked, we danced, we ran for miles.
Too bad you fell apart.

Now Mama says, "Aww, don't feel sad.
I've got exciting news.
We'll take the bus, we'll head downtown,
and you can choose new shoes!"

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

And shop they do, but how is a girl to choose? There are high heels, moccasins, galoshes, sneakers, light-up shoes, noisy shoes and oh so many other styles. Different shoes are tried on and the features of each are considered. It's the examination of these styles that Singer serves up in a variety of poetic forms.

High Heels

I like how it feels
to wear high heels,
platforms or wedges.
I can peek over hedges.
I can reach a tall shelf.
I am so proud of myself.
Mama says, "No,
wait till you grow."
But isn't it true
that's what heels
make you do?

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

So what does she choose? You can't possibly believe I'd tell you now, can you? You'll have to read this one for yourself!
Shoe Magic, written by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Terry Widener, is a collection of 16 poems that uses shoes as a means to explore the lives of children and their hopes and dreams. Just imagine what putting on a special pair of shoes can do! The nice thing about this collection is that these just aren't any old shoes. You'll find flippers, tap shoes, cleats, skates, sandals, golf shoes, work boots, and more. Here are the opening and closing poems.

The Shoe Rack

The shoe rack
Is stacked
With promise,

With dreams
Waiting
To wake.

What you do,
Where you go,
Who you grow

Up to be
Depends on
The steps you take.

Slippers

Rest your soles.
Spread your toes.
Curl, breath deep.
There now, Dreamer,
Hush. . . .
Sleep.

Poems ©Nikki Grimes. All rights reserved.

Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes, written by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Petra Mathers, is a collection of poems about clothing, but there are poems in here about shoes! You'll find "The Song of Harvey's Galoshes" and "Jennifer's Shoes." I am, however, partial to this shoe-related poem.

Bertie's Shoelaces

Good old Bertie,
he lets us hang around.
It doesn't bother Bertie
when we drag along the ground.
We're not up tight
as our Bertie Buddy knows.
We're hang loose laces and
we don't do bows!

Poem ©Alice Schertle. All rights reserved.

Now that you've read a bit of shoe poetry for children, check out the article at Poets.org entitled Favorite Fit: A Shoe Expert Tries on Poetry. In it you'll find some adult shoe poetry by the likes of Amy Lowell and Charles Simic.

Poetry in the Classroom - Notable Women

2011-04-20T17:49:00.004-04:00

While growing up I liked to pretend to be famous women--Amelia Earhart, Diane Fossey, Marie Curie (apparently all dead women!), and others. I never had any aspirations to be famous, but certainly wanted to emulate some of their personal qualities. I have several books of poetry dedicated to notable women that capture some of these traits.

All by Herself: 14 Girls Who Made a Difference, written by Ann Whitford Paul and illustrated by Michael Steirnagle, is a book of biographical poems about girls who grew into women of note. The poems focus on the experiences in their early lives that helped shape who they became. You'll find verses here about Amelia Earhart, Mary Jane McLeod, Violet Sheehy, Rachel Carson, Sacajawea, Ida Lewis, Harriet Hanson, Wilma Rudolph, Wanda Gág, Kate Shelley, Pocahontas, Maria Mitchell, Golda Mabovitch (Meir), and Frances Ward. Here is an excerpt from one of the poems.

Rachel Carson

When Rachel was a child,
she hiked alone around her farm
and learned the names of flowers growing wild
and bugs and birds and trees.

When Rachel was a child,
after chores of milking cows
and making cheese, collecting eggs
she read.
Her fondness was for nature books.
Sometimes she made up stories in her head
and wrote them down.

Poem ©Ann Whitford Paul. All rights reserved.

At the beginning of the back matter you'll find this poem.

Afterword
Each by herself has acted strong.
This book is short,
but could be long.
Many girls have done the same,
but there's not room
for every name.

How true. When you reach the end of this collection you'll want more poems, more stories, more information about the amazing women that have helped to shape our history. The end notes describe a bit about each girl and the experience described in the verse, as well as what the girl went on to do in adulthood. A biography for further reading is included.
Borrowed Names: Poems About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters, written by Jeannine Atkins, tells the story of three daughters moving from childhood to adulthood. Each of the three sections of the book begins with a bit of backstory about the mother and daughter and where their story in poems begins. The poems convey a real sense of person, and after reading them you feel you really know these women in an intimate way.

Irene Curie's story begins with birth of her younger sister and follows with the untimely death of her father, living with grief, her mother's second Nobel medal, war, Irene's studies at the Sorbonne, working side-by-side with her mother, and more. Here' are excerpts from two of the Curie poems.

from Without School Bells (p. 160-161)

Irene can't worry about yawns or crushes.
She needs to comprehend
the laws of radiance, reflection, refraction.
Every question and answer binds her
to the one world her mother loves.

from Paris (p. 185)

Irene and Mé now work side by side, though Irene
can't forget one of them
keeps two Nobel Prizes in her bureau.

Poems ©Jeannine Atkins. All rights reserved.

As with the other stories in the book, Irene's ends with a section entitled Legacies, that tells of her life after her mother's death. The book ends with a timeline marking important events in the lives of the three mothers and daughters. A selected bibliography is also included.
VHERSES: A Celebration of Outstanding Women, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Mark Summer, is a collection of 13 poems celebrating some remarkable women, including Emily Dickinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Georgia O'Keefe, Martha Graham, Amelia Earhart, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Rachel Carson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Fitzgerald, Gertrude Ederle, Anne Frank, Jane Goodall, and the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena). Here is the poem about Georgia O'Keefe.

Unstill Life

Master of the shifting shape,
Botanical and desertscape,

Her orchid still lifes might have meant
To call to mind a continent

Of love. The space of Western skies
Is fixed win the longhorn's empty eyes.

Romantic vistas hum out loud
Beneath the mesa's patterned cloud.

She gave bleached bones and ancient skulls
More life than living animals

That haunt the still and soft light show
Of her beloved New Mexico.

What is it if it is not art
That turns the handle of the heart?

Poem ©J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

Each of the poems is accompanied by a gorgeous portrait and a bit of interesting information about the subject.

I hope some of these poems have inspired you as much as they inspire me. If you want to learn more about notable women, visit some of these sites.

Have I missed a book of poetry about important women past or present? If so, please let me know.

Poetry in the Classroom - Small Things

2011-04-19T19:14:00.007-04:00

Today I'm thinking small, and for me that immediately brings to mind Valerie Worth.

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More, written by Valerie Worth with pictures by Natalie Babbitt, is a compilation of all four of Worth's Small Poems books in one volume. There are fourteen new poems that extend Worth's meditations on the world around us. All of these poems are written in free verse and make extraordinary the very ordinary things we see.

In Pass the Poetry, Please!, an introduction to children's poets by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Worth said, "Written poetry is simply a way of revealing and celebrating the essentially poetic nature of the world itself." Here are two poems that celebrate and reveal things we often see, but don't really think much of.

grass

Grass on the lawn
Says nothing:
Clipped, empty,
Quiet.

Grass in the fields
Whistles, slides,
Casts up a foam
Of seeds,

Tangles itself
With leaves: hides
Whole rustling schools
Of mice.

lawnmower

The lawnmower
Grinds its teeth
Over the grass,
Spitting out a thick
Green spray;

Its head is too full
Of iron and oil
To know
What it throws
Away:

The lawn’s whole
Crop of chopped
Soft,
Delicious
Green hay.

Poems ©Valerie Worth. All rights reserved.

I posted this picture with the Gone to the Dogs post, but it's worth posting again, since it is a Valerie Worth poem.

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Poems About Small Things, selected by Myra Cohn Livingston, is a collection of poems about the little things in life. There are poems here by Karla Kuskin, Langston Hughes, Charlotte Zolotow, David McCord, J. Patrick Lewis, X.J. Kennedy, Shakespeare, and more. Here is a poem from each of the three sections of the book.

The chicken scratching
for food in the dirt stirs up
tiny tornadoes.

Poem ©Kristine O'Connell George. All rights reserved.

Milkweed

In the soft summer air
a piece of fluff from some milkweed
drifts by
like a little floating cloud
full of seeds

Poem ©Charlotte Zolotow. All rights reserved.

Time Piece

Take the back off the watch
and see that universe of small parts,
bobbing and turning,
each doing what it should be doing,
and ignoring you completely.

Poem ©William Cole. All rights reserved.

I'd like to leave you with these words about poetry. They can be found in the book The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work, a book edited by Paul Janeczko that contains the poems, advice, anecdotes, and recollections of 39 poets. Here's what Worth had to say.

"One of poetry’s most wonderful features is that it can get beneath the surface of things and explore them not as mere objects but as remarkable phenomena with lively personalities of their own. Articles as coat hangers can take on unexpected dimensions within the realm of a poem; and if this can happen with coat hangers, then the world must be filled with other ‘ordinary’ subjects just waiting for poetry to come along and reveal their extraordinary selves."

I hope you'll take some time to explore ordinary things made extraordinary in these poems.

Poetry in the Classroom - Snakes!

2011-04-18T20:51:00.010-04:00

After writing a thematic list for dog poetry and one for cat poetry, I was encouraged (thanks, Tanita!) to give snakes equal time. Since I could not find a single book of snake poetry out there (though there are plenty of poetry books with snake in the title), I decided to focus on books that included poems about snakes. There are many animal poetry books that include snakes among the topics. These are some of my favorites.
Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs by Douglas Florian - In 21 poems, brilliantly illustrated, Florian introduces readers to all manner of amphibians and reptiles. You'll find poems about the python, cobra, and diamondback rattlesnake. Here is my favorite of the three.

The Diamondback Rattlesnake

Fork in front,
Rattle behind.
The lump in the middle?
Don't pay any mind.

Scales up high,
Scales down low.
The lump in the middle?
You don't want to know.

Diamonds above,
Diamonds below.
The lump in the middle?
A rabbit too slow.

Poem ©Douglas Florian. All rights reserved.

Turtle in July written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney - This collection of nature poems includes poems that pair animals with the months of the year as well as four seasonal poems focused on the bullhead (a type of catfish). The pairing of the animals with the months is nicely made. For example, October is the Canada goose, January the white-tailed deer, and March the brown bear. My favorite poem is the book is for the month of September.

Timber Rattlesnake

Summer it still is
    Yes
September stones
Warm bones
Warm blood
Strike I still can
    Yes
Snare and swallow the harvesting mouse
                            the shuffling rat
But slant they do the sun's rays
Shorter grow the days
    Yes
Soon September stones
Chill bones
Chill blood
Stiff shall I grow
And so below I'll slide
Beneath stones
Beneath soil
Coil I still can
    Yes
Sleep safe
Sleep sound
Snake underground

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails, written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Steve Jenkins - This one isn't a book of poems, but rather a poetic text that explores surprising and hidden shapes and patterns in nature. Here is an excerpts on snakes.

On diamondback snakes
and on copperhead snakes
you'll recognize diamond and triangle shapes.

The snake rubs its nose on a branch or a rock,
then takes off its skin like a knee-high sock.

Off comes the old skin and waiting below,
repeating designs appear in a row.

Text ©Betsy Franco. All rights reserved.

Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky , written by Georgia Heard and illustrated by Jennifer Owings Dewey - This is a collection of 17 poems about a range of animals from hummingbirds to elephants. There is one snake poem in this book.

DRESSING LIKE A SNAKE

A snake changes it clothes
only twice a year.
Beginning with its nose,
peeling down to its toes:
new clothes suddenly appear.
Wouldn't it be nice
to dress only twice
instead of each day of the year?

Poem ©Georgia Heard. All rights reserved.

Desert Voices, written by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall - In this collection of free verse poems, the rattlesnake, buzzard, coyote, cactus wren, jackrabbit, lizard, and other animals tell why they like living in the desert. Here's an excerpt from the rattlesnake poem.

Rattlesnake

I move so flat against
the earth
that I know all
its mysteries.

I understand
the way sun
clings to rocks
after the sun is gone.

I understand
the long cold shadows
that wrap themselves
around me
and slow my blood
and call me back
into the earth.

On the south side of
a rocky slope
where sun can warm
my hiding place,
I wait for the cold
that draws me into
sleep.

Poem ©Byrd Baylor. All rights reserved.

This Big Sky, written by Pat Mora and illustrated by Steve Jenkins - The 14 poems in this collection bring the sights and sounds of the desert southwest to life. Poems about the sky, an old snake, a horned lizard, an urban raccoon, jays, coyotes, and more are included.

Old Snake

Old Snake knows.
Sometimes you feel
you just can't breath
in your own tight skin.
Old Vibora says, "Leave
those doubts and hurts
buzzing like flies in your ears.
When you feel your frowns,
like me wriggle free
from I can't, I can't.
Leave those gray words
to dry in the sand
and dare to show
your brave self,
your bright true colors.

Poem ©Pat Mora. All rights reserved.

Now that you are in a decidedly reptilian frame of mind, here are some additional resources for thinking about snakes.

The Highlights web site has a poetry player that includes artwork and audio for poems. They have a poem entitled S is for Snake.
Kidzone has a page devoted to snake activities.
The San Diego Zoo has an Animal Bytes page with lots of information about snakes.
The National Zoo has an interesting article entitled Why Ireland Has No Snakes.
Take a virtual tour of the Reptile Discovery Center at the National Zoo. Click on the squares to learn about animals on exhibit, and click on the question marks to learn about a topic. I was drawn in by the page entitled How to Swallow Something Bigger Than Your Head!
Learn about the snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo. Here you'll find pictures and basic information about each species living at the zoo.

I know I've left off Valerie Worth's book Animal Poems, Wade Zahares' book Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary: Poems that Bite Back, and many other good selections. Won't you share your favorite snake poetry with me?

Monday Poetry Stretch - Cat vs. Dog

2011-04-18T18:44:00.003-04:00

In the last two weeks I've posted thematic lists on both dog poetry and cat poetry. I shouldn't be surprised, but folks are passionate about whether they're team dog or team cat. Which camp are you in? Write your poem this week about a cat or a dog, or if you're sitting on the fence, write about both.

Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.