Paul B. Janeczko’s “Approaching Storm”

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: Bobbi Katz

Next up: PAUL B. JANECZKO

Setting the Stage: Invite the kids to discuss how they know a storm is coming BEFORE it comes? What signs do they look for? Where would they look for information about storm-watching?

Poetry Performance: Share Paul B. Janeczko’s poem, “Approaching Storm,” by breaking the larger group into two smaller groups. The two groups alternate reading, each taking two lines. Group 1 reads the first two lines, Group 2 reads the next two lines; Group 1 reads the next two lines, and Group 2 reads the final two lines. Read again, switching groups and lines.

Just for Fun: Bring or grow a potted geranium plant; keep it in the window for a season. Write Janeczko’s poem on the clay pot itself.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Storm
Light
Dogs
Flowers
Summer
Sea

If you haven’t gotten your own copy of PoetryTagTime yet, buy the book now for only 99 cents, so you can share each of the 30 poems along with the ideas and activities that are available here.

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Laura Purdie Salas


Image credit: PoetryTagTime

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