Carol Boston Weatherford’s “Nosy Rosie”

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: Helen Frost

Next up: CAROLE BOSTON WEATHERFORD

Setting the Stage: Have any of the children had experiences with lost pets? (with happy endings!) Share a few. Then bring a map of the U.S. and guide the kids in identifying the states of Alabama and Kansas and all those in between the two.

Poetry Performance: If the children are getting comfortable reading poems out loud, it’s time to invite volunteers to read aloud Carole Boston Weatherford’s poem, “Nosy Rosie,” on their own—one two-line stanza per volunteer.

Just for Fun: Kids love story poems and this one shares quite an adventure. In addition, each stanza adds more and more to the character and plot of the poem story. In fact, each stanza could easily be the text for a page of a picture book. Invite the kids to choose their favorite stanzas (perhaps the one they volunteered to read aloud) and then illustrate that stanza with a page including a drawing and the two-line stanza. Combine all the pages to create a collaborative poem picture book. Share with another class or group.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Dogs
Lost
Home
Dialogue
Questions
Friends
Crow
Bugs
Sleep

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Calef Brown


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

Douglas Florian’s “Dove”

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: Betsy Franco

Next up: DOUGLAS FLORIAN

Setting the Stage: Remind the children of the previous discussion about crows and their habits and behaviors. Create a chart listing attributes of crows on the left side and add a second column to list the attributes of doves on the right. (Look these up together, if needed.) Discuss the similarities and differences.

Poetry Performance: Divide the big group into two parallel groups, one each to read one line of Douglas Florian’s poem, “Dove.” Then reverse the groups to read again.

Just for Fun: Florian’s poem is a “definition” poem-- in only two lines. Lead the kids in looking for other defining “______ is” poems. Or work together to reverse things and write a poem as a group about defining the crow. "A crow is… "

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Birds
Snow
Crow
Humor
Color

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Helen Frost


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

Betsy Franco’s “Crow”

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: Lee Bennett Hopkins

Next up: BETSY FRANCO

Setting the Stage: Ask the children if they’ve ever seen a crow. Just one or many? How many? Where and when? What did they look like/sound like? How did the crows behave? If possible, look for crow sightings nearby (or on YouTube or nature web sites).

Poetry Performance: Read Betsy Franco’s poem, “Crow,” aloud first, showing the text, if possible. Then invite the children to practice their cawing crow voices to read the following key crow words and actions in the poem out loud (while you or a volunteer read the rest): Yippee/ you caw/ you drop/ and drop/ and drop/ and poke and peck/ yackity-yak/ raucous friends.

Just for Fun: Franco’s poem is a “poem of address,” as if she is talking to the crow itself. Invite the kids to look for other similar poems that “speak” to their subject as “you.” Aspiring writers may want to try their hands at creating their own original poems of address.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Birds
Crow
Food
Friends
Onomatopoeia

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Douglas Florian



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