Beast Feast (Module 2- Florian Poetry)

Florian, Douglas. beast feast. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-15-295178-4

Beast feast is a collection of delightful short poems about a wide array of animals. Alliteration, rhyme, and metaphor are seamlessly used as educational knowledge is given about each creature. Visual imagery adds meaning and fun to Florian’s poetry. His anteater poem perfectly replicates the animal’s “snaking...snout”, while in a later poem the word “spew” is playfully splashed on the page. Full page watercolors also illustrate the poetry’s humorous look at each starring character, from the stern looking barracuda chomping on Earth to the smiling armadillo lying on in bed. Like each poem, every illustration is worthy of examination.

The Firefly
On August nights
The firefly lights
Blink
ON and OFF
Amongst the trees
But have no need
For batteries.

Presentation of Poem: Before reading this poem to younger children, activate prior knowledge of fireflies through questioning. With a large copy of the poem, read the poem out loud. Allow children to read it with you a second time. After this practice, demonstrate how flashlights can turn “on” and “off” like fireflies. Allow students to take turns turning flashlights on and off during subsequent readings.

Lesson: Teach the sight words "ON" and "OFF". Fold a sheet of paper in half and allow students to draw a firefly lit up on one side and one that is not on the other side. Students can then label each side with the words “ON” and “OFF.”

Extension Activity: Set up a poetry center with this poem displayed. Students can practice reading the poem with individual pointers and then act out the poem. Provide students with props for their pretend play. Possible props might include antennae (pipe cleaners), flashlights, insect nets, and clear jars.

Please Bury Me in the Library (Module 2- NCTE Award Winner)

Lewis, J. Patrick. Please Bury Me In The Library. Ill. by Kyle M. Stone. Harcourt Children's Books, 2005. ISBN 0152163875

Please Bury Me in the Library is a playful take on the literary joys found amongst the many types of reading found in the library. Bright, whimsical paintings and the occasional black and white sketch illustrate the book’s 17 poems. Lewis shows diversity in his collection, adding  haiku and acrostic poems to his typical poetry filled with rhymes, plays on words, and surprise endings. This collection will be enjoyed by many as adults chuckle while reading about “long-stemmed proses” and children burst into fits of giggles when hearing about being buried with “bookworms in my coffin.”

Eating Alphabet Soup

My advice to the Tablespoon Slurper:
Beware what you do with that scoop!
    The Capitals, sir,
    Can cause quite a stir
In a bowlful of Alphabet Soup.

While K, Z, and B do the backstroke
Across this hot, steamy lagoon,
    The fun-loving Vowels
    May want tiny towels
To dry themselves off on the spoon.

But when Letters go swimming together
In sentences, nothing can beat
    The pleasure of reading
    The food that you’re eating!
So dive in and - bon appétit!

Presentation of Poem: Have this poem displayed next to an empty bowl, spoon, and can of alphabet soup. Be sure to read the poem slowly in order to allow younger students to visualize phrases like the “hot, steamy lagoon” and “tiny towels to dry themselves off”.

Lesson: After reading the poem and allowing students to share their thoughts, bring out a large bowl full of plastic magnetic letters. Allow students to come forward with spoons and take a scoop or two. Using cookie sheets or another metal surface, have a contest to see who can make the longest word or most words with their scooped letters! Young students may even enjoy writing the words they have made inside a picture of a soup bowl.

This Big Sky (Module 2- Multicultural Award)

Mora, Pat. This Big Sky. Ill. by Steve Jenkins. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1998. ISBN 0590371207

This Big Sky is crammed with succinct, image evoking language in its 14 poems featuring the magical southwest region of the United States. Poems range in topic from proud grandmother to horned lizard and yet all manage to convey a sense of sacred awe. Crisp, simple illustrations of cut paper evoke Mora’s emotional intent in each poem. The lyrical and rhythmic nature of the poems are best enjoyed out loud. Listening, however, may not be enough as certain phrases and words, such as “cinnamon hills” and “thorny silence” beg to be tested oneself.

This Big Sky

This sky is big enough
for all my dreams.

Two ravens burst black
from a piñon tree
into the blare
of blazing sun.

I follow their wide ebony flight
over copper hills,
down canyons shimmering gold
autumn leaves.

Two ravens spread their wings, rise
into whispers
of giant pines, over mountains blue
with memories.

This sky is big enough
for all my dreams.

Presentation of Poem: Read this poem aloud to the class slowly. After allowing students to absorb the oral reading, post a copy of the poem so that students can silently read along as it is read a second time. Allow students to share thoughts and opinions on the poem.

Activity: Have students come up and underline color words in the poem. If necessary, show examples of ebony and gold. Read the poem again, this time having students chime in to read the different colors. Ask students why the poet might have used so many color words. You may hear students say that the poet likes colors or that the colors make a picture in your head. Ask students if the colors show feelings. You will get a variety of answers. Next, ask students what blue memories might be. How might these be different than red memories? Yellow memories?

Extension Project: Students will all choose a color to work with. Then they will brainstorm what emotions they attach to their color. Give students the choice of two products that demonstrate understanding. Students may create a detailed picture or piece of art in different shades of a color that express their take on the color’s emotion. The second choice would allow students to create a poem that demonstrates the color’s emotion.

What a Day it was at School! (Module 1- School Poetry)

Prelutsky, J. What a day it was at school!. Ill. by Doug Cushman. New York, NY: Greenwillow, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-082335-1

Jack Prelutsky has done it again! What a Day it was at School! is a collection of humorous poems that will have elementary students, and some adults, giggling uncontrollably. Jack Prelutsky uses upbeat rhymes and rhythm to explore relatable scenes with unpredictable twists. Students will groan with understanding when they hear, “My backpack weighs a thousand pounds, It’s fatter than a cow!” and laugh out loud when one poem suddenly takes an unusual turn and the homework eats the dog. Like a good joke, these poems are best read aloud and shared with a friend. Children are sure to appreciate the vivid and expressive illustrations which feature a wide array of small creatures including both a rat and a cat.

“Teacher’s Pet” perfectly represents the use of rhyme and wit used throughout the collection. This poem could be used to teach many things, including point of view, rhyme, cause and effect, and character education. To utilize this poem in a point of view lesson, one should first discuss point of view and introduce 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person. Students would then split in pairs to practice making up sentences in 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person. After coming together again, the teacher could practice reading short paragraphs from various view points and have students explain the style in which each paragraph was written. As a concluding activity, the teacher would read the first stanza of “Teacher’s Pet” and ask students the point of view. After recording the responses, the teacher would conclude by reading the second stanza. If, after some time, no students express surprise at the change in point of view, the teacher should take time to explain the unexpected twist.

Teacher’s Pet
No one cares for teacher’s pet.
It’s really sort of sad.
He’s always first to raise his hand,
Which makes some people mad.
They often call him awful names,
Like Weasel, Rat, and Skunk,
And moan when he gets answers right-
They’d love to see him flunk.

But teacher’s pet is pretty smart,
So he is seldom wrong,
He also does his very best
To try and get along.
Everyone pokes fun at him,
And that’s why I regret
That I am so unfortunate,
For I am teacher’s pet.

Days to Celebrate, A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More (Module 1- Hopkins)

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. and comp. Days to Celebrate, A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More. Ill. by Stephen Alcorn. 1st ed. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2005. ISBN 0-06-000766-4

Poetry is not a week long study, it is for every day of the year. As its name implies, Days to Celebrate, A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More  is a compilation of interesting events, quotes, facts, holidays, and poems put together to captivate the reader throughout the year. The collection is organized by month so that one would find a poem appropriate to father’s day under June and a poem about Thanksgiving under November. Each month also highlights a calendar, displaying important historical events and interesting facts, such as flower birthstone. A useful contents page allows readers to easily browse the organization of the compilation, while the multiple indexes allows readers to browse by titles, first line, or author.

Days to Celebrate will find an audience with with teachers and students alike. Teachers will appreciate the ease with which the book allows them to incorporate quality poetry into the everyday routines and lessons of the classroom and students will love investigating the countless facts and details hidden among the pages. Key poets such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are featured beside Mother Goose and various anonymous poems. The poems vary in mood, from the serious tone set by “Memorial Day” to the quizzical and upbeat tone posed by “Arithmetic.” Colorful, bold, and nostalgic illustrations add a touch of whimsy to each page and beg the reader to take time with each poem.

 “Introduction to Poetry” is an ideal poem to open up student minds to poetry. Middle school and high school students may especially benefit from its wisdom. An ideal lesson would begin with students discussing in pairs and then in groups their feelings about poetry. Then students could reconvene to brainstorm what poetry is and why it exists. After this introduction, the poem would be read aloud. Individual copies could be passed out as a beginning to an ongoing individual project- poetry journals. Students would begin to collect favorite poems that they enjoy reading to add to their journals. This particular project would never involve analyzing the poems, but enjoying them. As an end of the year project students could organize the poems into a collection with a forward, table of contents, and section introductions.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

they begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.