X. J. Kennedy’s “Snow Day”

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: Jane Yolen

Next up: X.J. KENNEDY

Setting the Stage: Invite the kids to share “snow day” stories. What are some of the most memorable things they’ve done on unexpected days off from school?

Poetry Performance: In bringing X. J. Kennedy’s poem, “Snow Day,” to life, invite the whole group to make the sound effect of the firehouse horn, “Bawp bawp!” in the first stanza. (You may need to clarify that this is the way the community is informed when there is no school.) Then invite a volunteer to read the following line of “dialogue” also from the first stanza:

“Go back to bed!/ No school today! It’s snowing!”

A second volunteer can read the part of the friend calling in the third stanza:

“You want to build/ A snowman, I suppose?/ I’ve got some licorice jellybeans,/ You bring the carrot nose.”

The adult leader reads the rest of the poem out loud.

Just for Fun: Make a paper snowman, cut out paper snowflakes; eat licorice, try carrots-- some of the basics of snow man building. Compare and contrast winter fun with summer fun.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Dialogue
Winter
Snow
Butterflies
Food
Summer
Questions
Friends
Color
World
Onomatopoeia

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Bobbi Katz

Image credit: PoetryTagTime

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