Poem reading

Just for fun, I grabbed Leslie Bulion at the Texas Library Association conference, handed her my Kindle, and persuaded her to read her poem from PoetryTagTime aloud while I filmed her with my handy Flipcam. Please forgive the background noise, but here is the fun riddle poem, "Knock, Knock, Who's There?" read by the poet herself, Leslie Bulion. Enjoy!

J. Patrick Lewis’s “Edgar Allan Poe’s Apple Pie”

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: Leslie Bulion

Next up: J. PATRICK LEWIS

Setting the Stage: Ask the kids if they have ever had to share a yummy treat with someone else—like a sandwich, pizza, candy, apple, etc? How did they decide on dividing the portions?

Poetry Performance: For reading aloud J. Patrick Lewis’s poem, “Edgar Allan Poe’s Apple Pie” invite 2 volunteers to read the lines of dialogue (“How many cuts give me ten pieces?” and “Never four!” as they occur in the poem) while you read the rest of the poem in a very melodramatic voice.

Just for Fun: Find a recording of a reading of the classic Edgar Allan Poe poem, “The Raven,” and play it for the kids. Compare it to the parody that Lewis has created here. What other parodies of classic poems can you find? And of course you have to demonstrate the math in the poem, dividing a paper (or real) apple pie into 10 pieces with 5 cuts.

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Onomatopoeia
Night
Food
Parody
Dialogue
Riddle
Questions
Sleep
Fear

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: Avis Harley


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

Leslie Bulion’s “Knock, Knock! Who’s There?”

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: April Halprin Wayland

Next up: LESLIE BULION

Setting the Stage: Invite the children to share any of their favorite riddles or read a few riddles from a selected book of riddles. Discuss how riddles work (question/answer; serious or humorous).

Poetry Performance: Divide the group into three smaller groups to read Leslie Bulion’s poem, “Knock, Knock! Who’s There?” out loud. The first group reads the first line in both stanzas. The second group reads the second line of both stanzas. The third group reads the final three lines of both stanzas (which go together). Once the poem has been shared, performed, and discussed, and everyone knows the answer to the riddle, end with asking “What am I?” and invite the whole group to shout out the answer, “the tongue,” after performing the poem.

Just for Fun: There are so many possibilities for following up this poem: researching more information about the tongue and how it works or digging for more poem riddles or experimenting with the limerick form that Bulion uses to create this poem. Offer the kids a choice of activities!

Poem Links: Here are key words that connect this poem with other poems in the PoetryTagTime collection:
Body
Food
Riddle
Questions
Sleep
Lost

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

Next up for PoetryTagTime: J. Patrick Lewis


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