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.

Joan Bransfield Graham’s “Buckaroo Bees”

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: Avis Harley

Next up: JOAN BRANSFIELD GRAHAM

Setting the Stage: Ask the kids if they have ever seen bees near flowers. What do the bees look like? What are they doing? Why might the poet (Joan Bransfield Graham) here describe a bee’s legs as “saddlebags”?

Poetry Performance: To bring Graham’s “Buckaroo Bees” poem to life, divide the larger group into four small groups or ask for four volunteers. The first group or volunteer reads the first two lines. The second group or volunteer reads the third and fourth lines. The third group or volunteer reads the fifth line only. The fourth group or volunteer reads the sixth and seventh lines. Practice multiple times to get the staccato delivery just right.

Just for Fun: Join the kids in researching what a magnolia blossom looks like, where it can be found, where the pollen is located in the blossom, etc. If possible, bring a real or artificial magnolia flower to share. Since the poem is very short, see if you can write each line of the poem on a separate petal of the (artificial) magnolia flower (in order, if possible).

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Bees
Flowers
Wind
Body
Bugs

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: David Harrison


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

Calef Brown’s “The Doublenose Hotel”

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: Carole Boston Weatherford

Next up: CALEF BROWN

Setting the Stage: Ask the kids if any of them have ever stayed in a hotel or motel before. What was that experience like? Did they ever try room service?

Poetry Performance: Just for fun try reading Calef Brown’s poem, “The Doublenose Hotel,” with kids chiming in on all the smell-related words and phrases (highlight them in yellow to guide them). This includes: sense of smell, Doublenose Hotel, nasal buffet, rare perfumes, aroma service, order an odor, essence of mint, exotic flower, sweetly scented, “fragrancy,” smells so swell, and the Doublenose Hotel. The teacher or librarian reads the rest of the words and lines. Now try it faster and faster—it’s almost a tongue twister.

Just for Fun: This poem really focuses on the sense of smell. If possible, bring in a variety of scents for the kids to smell (e.g., mint, a flower, perfume) and make a list of descriptive “smell” words. Invite the kids to draw a face with a “doublenose”—what could that look like? Discuss what extra smells you might smell with a doublenose.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Humor
Smells
Questions
Food
Flowers
Home

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Rebecca Kai Dotlich


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

Lee Bennett Hopkins’ “Summer Fear”

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: Alice Schertle

Next up: LEE BENNETT HOPKINS

Setting the Stage: Lead a discussion of weather worries. Does thunder make you nervous? Lightning? Invite the kids to consider whether flowers might fear stormy weather, too.

Poetry Performance: Read Lee Bennett Hopkins’s poem, “Summer Fear,” aloud to the group first. Then divide the group into three smaller groups. One will read the three-line stanza about roses, one will read the three-line stanza about pansies, and one will read the three-line stanza about sunflowers. Then everyone joins together to read the final stanza. Practice, read, repeat.

Just for Fun: Not everyone is familiar with the varieties of flowers mentioned in the poem. Research together what roses, pansies, and sunflowers, (and yews) look like. Create a collage of these images adding facial expressions on the flowers, a backdrop of fence posts and a window box, and aluminum foil bolts of thunder to create a scene to accompany the poem.

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

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Betsy Franco



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

Nikki Grimes’ “Prairie Friend”

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: Joyce Sidman

Next up: NIKKI GRIMES

Setting the Stage: Invite the kids to discuss what kinds (or colors or shapes) of flowers they see in their communities. What do they look like? Where are they located? How do they appear in the sun, in the wind, in the rain?

Poetry Performance: Nikki Grimes’s poem, “Prairie Friend,” is full of language that suggests motions for pantomiming: shimmies, leap, bow, dance. After reading the poem aloud once, ask for volunteers to act out the poem using simple movements and gestures while the rest of the group reads the poem out loud.

Just for Fun: Grimes mentions that her poem comes from a collection of poems she wrote about state flowers. Challenge the kids to look up which state has the sunflower (of this poem) as its state flower. Can they find other poems about other (state) flowers? They might also consider creating a new, original poem about a flower special to their own state, region or community.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Wind
Flowers
Sun
Body
Dance
Friends

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Alice Schertle

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