Janet Wong’s “Scute”

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: Mary Ann Hoberman

Next up: JANET WONG

Setting the Stage: Write the word “scute” on a strip of paper, chalkboard, or note card. Challenge the kids to guess what the word means. Jot down their definitions. (It’s not important that they guess correctly, but that they have fun wondering.)

Poetry Performance: Wong’s poem, “Scutes,” nicely incorporates four concrete examples of her poem’s key concept in four independent stanzas. The format lends itself nicely to being read aloud by four small groups (or four volunteers), each reading one stanza.

Just for Fun: Bring cinnamon rolls and a small pan or a butcher block or wooden cutting board to show the images mentioned in the poem. What other examples of “scutes” can the kids think of?

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

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.

Now begin again: Janet’s poem opens with the moons on a turtle’s back. This connects us back with Jack Prelutsky’s first moon poem, “If the Moon” and PoetryTagTime has come full circle.


Image credit: PoetryTagTime

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

Julie Larios’s “Song of the Hog”

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: David L. Harrison

Next up: JULIE LARIOS

Setting the Stage: Invite the kids to share any pig-related words or phrases they may know. Share some of these from the poem: pig, hog, grunt, mud, muck, snout, runt, swine, lout, curly tail, pink, squeal, pork, porcine. Look them up together if these words are unfamiliar.

Poetry Performance: Ask the kids to choose whether they want to be the “hog” or the “runts” in reading the parts of Julie Larios’s “Song of the Hog” poem. The “runties” read the designated lines in quotation marks:

“O, Rotund One! O, Royal Swine!
You are the barnyard’s Master Lout.
We’re curly-tailed and pink and squealy,
but you are the Porcine King, no doubt!”

The “hog” readers read the rest of the poem. Try it and then switch parts to read again. [Be sure to read it aloud first in its entirety to provide a model of how to pronounce “ferocious,” “runties,” “rotund,” and “Porcine,” for example.]


Just for Fun: Feeling outrageous? Invite the kids to copy the poem onto a pink piece of paper, outline the poem with a pig shape, then splatter it all with mud! Let dry and display. Research and show the kids the famous painting of the hog by American artist Jamie Wyeth that inspired Larios’s poem.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Dialogue
Hog
Food
Humor
Body

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Ann Whitford Paul

Image credit: PoetryTagTime

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

David L. Harrison’s “Meanwhile”

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: Joan Bransfield Graham

Next up: DAVID L. HARRISON

David's blog

Setting the Stage: Lead the kids in a discussion of the two major roles for bees: drones and queen. Do they know which is which and what each does in the hive? If not, research and share.

Poetry Performance: David Harrison’s poem, “Meanwhile” is a concrete or shape poem that suggests the look of a bee’s hive. But it also uses the shape to suggest a slowing-down rhythm for reading the poem. Read it aloud to the kids first beginning at a normal pace, then pausing after the word “once” to read the remainder of the poem more and more slowly. Then invite them to join in on repeated readings with the same rhythm, pausing after “all,” “they,” and “ask” for extra impact.

Just for Fun: Join the kids in looking for more shape poems, more bee poems, or creating a hive shaped poem from the queen’s point of view (perhaps growing from smaller at the top to larger at the bottom).

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Bees
Shape poem
Sky
Humor
Bugs

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Julie Larios

Image credit: PoetryTagTime

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

April Halprin Wayland’s “World Wide Wag”

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: Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Next up: APRIL HALPRIN WAYLAND

Setting the Stage: Invite the children to share any observations they have made of their pets sleeping. How do their sleeping pets look and behave? What to they imagine their pets might be dreaming about?

Poetry Performance: As you share April Halprin Wayland’s poem, “World Wide Wag,” invite kids to join in on only the repeated word, “if.” Invite them to chant it out loud while the adult reads the rest of the words and lines. Put the word “if” on a colored index card and hold it up when it’s their turn to participate (helpful for non-readers or ESL/ELL students).

Just for Fun: Each two-line stanza of the poem is highly visual suggesting an image or scene. Invite the kids to create a simple cartoon picture of what is described (perhaps working in pairs on their favorite stanza). Then hold up each picture to cue reading the accompanying lines. Aspiring poets might try writing an “if” poem about imagining being a sleeping dog or a cat (or other favorite animal) or about their own sleeping pet.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Dogs
Computers
Questions
Humor
Body
World
Sleep

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Leslie Bulion


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.

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.