Monday Poetry Stretch - Three Words

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

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

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

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.

In

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!

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?

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

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

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

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!

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

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?

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 carrion.

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 insectivore, 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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.