Mary Ann Hoberman’s “Three T’s”

Reminder: PoetryTagTime is the first ever electronic-only poetry anthology of new poems by top poets for children. You can purchase the book for 99 cents at Amazon and read it on your Kindle or through the downloadable Kindle platform for your computer, cell phone, etc.

Previously: Pat Mora

Next up: MARY ANN HOBERMAN

Setting the Stage: Make a chart with three columns, each topped with a “T” and one labeled “turtle,” one labeled “tortoise,” and one labeled “terrapin.” Invite the children to talk about what they know—or guess—about each.

Poetry Performance: Mary Ann Hoberman’s poem, “Three T’s” naturally lends itself to being read by three groups; one reads the lines specific to the turtle, one reads the lines specific to the tortoise, and one reads the lines specific to the terrapin. All other lines (including lines that refer to all three types) are read by the group in unison.

Just for Fun: Revisit the chart initiated before reading the poem and see what details about each of the three (turtle, tortoise, terrapin) can be added based on the poem. Look for more facts about these three and consider creating a follow up poem as a group using this new information.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Turtles
Sea
Body

Buy the book now (only 99 cents), so you can share each poem along with the ideas and activities that follow here.

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Janet Wong


Image credit: PoetryTagTime

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.