Monday, April 2, 2012

It's Monday Plus Poetry Month - A New Challenge!

Visit Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts for this meme where you can find oh so many ideas for children's book (YA too!), and Sheila at Book Journeys for even more.

          Because I’m challenging myself to write a poem each day in April, I am writing a poem about the books I read this past week, this time in preparation for a non-fiction poetry lesson I’m giving soon.  Here is the poem, and a bit more about the books with some parts of poems from each book.  These are all books from our school library.  I know there are many more wonderful non-fiction anthologies and hope to find some at my local library too.  My goal was to find a variety of topics so that students could feel free to access something from their personal research topic that we do at my school, or have choice of any other topic they love.
       For the poem, I began listing the titles of the poetry anthologies and added a word here and there.
                       Um-m-Poetry
It’s Monday, So, you want to know what I’ve been Reading?
Eureka!  spans history with stories in poems about inventors and
Math Talk offers mathematical ideas for two voices. Add in
an imaginary walk out of doors with
Color Me A Rhyme-nature poems for young people and then I
rush to a Seawatch.
I ramble through jungles and deserts, down creeks, into forests
in The Beauty of the Beast poems from
the animal kingdom.  I look further at tiny creatures
seeing insects flourish in
Insectlopedia
They’re a bit less noisy than Click, Rumble, Roar,
Poems about Machines.
The titles give hints, but the poems
entrance.  Just open them up,
for poetic delight.

That’s what I’ve been doing
for students. 



The Beauty of The Beast   Poems from the Animal Kingdom selected by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Meilo So
     The section titles are poetic themselves, with titles like Jubilant, We Swim (fish) and Hollow-Boned Singers (birds).There are clever poems all through, but my favorite is in the section titled Wrapped In Coats of Fur, one titled About Muskrat, Let’s Say…   by Isabel Joshlin Glaser
       Here is the beginning:  “You stroll along the stream
                                             To where green rushes rise
                                             And you stop beneath the willow
                                             And there, to your surprise,
                                                            A dome lies on the water,
                                              Thatched of twigs and limbs and mud.
                                              That’s the roof of Muskrat’s home.

Insectlopedia, poems and paintings by Douglas Florian
Here’s part of The Daddy Longlegs
“O Daddy
Daddy O
How’d you get
Those legs to grow
So very long
And lean in size?
Color Me A Rhyme Nature Poems for Young People by Jane Yolen with photographs by Jason Stemple
       Beautiful photos of numerous places, all color pages, like the Orange page I like.  The poem is Orange, and begins I want to take a bite out of that sunset sky.   The photo is of that amazing orange lichen on a large rock.
Eureka!  Poems about inventors  by Joyce Sidman illustrated by K. Bennett Chavez
    Be sure to find the one about inventing the chocolate bar.  The book spans history from the discovery of clay, to French balloonists, Velcro and the World Wide Web.  I adored the stories.
              Food of The Gods
In the time before memory
Quetzalcoatl—the Plumed Serpent—
dropped ripe yellow pods of cacao
into the steamy jungle.

Sea Watch poems by Jane Yolen  illustrated by Ted Lewin

See Father Seahorse
His belly pouch,
Like a Snuggli of skin,
Enfolds the eggs
Math Talk  mathematical ideas in poems for two voices  poems by theoni pappas

         This book includes lots of topics; here is the beginning of One

One
I was the first of them

The Numbers That Is                                                            The numbers that is

I was
                                                                                    The initiator.

Click, Rumble, Roar:  Poems about Machines by Lee Bennett Hopkins           
     This is the cutest book, probably for younger students.
Garbage Truck by Marci Ridlon
Hungry monster,
You grumble, wheeze,
Never seem full.


NEXT:  A friend loaned me The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine so I’ll start that, and hopefully return to more reading now that I have fewer blogs to read, although it was a total pleasure!  I still need to finish Throwing Shadows by E.L. Konigsburg.  

10 comments:

  1. Lots of great poetry here. Love your listing of books of poetry in a poem. Every good subject ought to have a poem written about it.

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  2. Ooh, Math Talk is fun! The Lions of Little Rock is a wonderful read. Enjoy!

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  3. Very impressive poetry. That reminds me that I wanted to do some poetry promotion on my blog too!

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  4. I am so excited to follow your month of poetry. I have looked forward to stopping by your blog during Slice of Life that I'm happy you are continuing to write. Thank you for telling me about the other blogs doing something in celebration of National Poetry Month. I've tried to add them all to the sidebar of my blog. I think I'm going to have to pay attention, Linda, because there seems to be a lot going on for the month.

    Thanks also for telling me about the progressive poem --- fun. I will be following that too.

    I love the way you combined "What Are You Reading" with the event. I have been thinking a lot about nonfiction poetry and was thrilled to hear you talk about it here too. We are currently implementing the Common Core and this just seemed to draw more attention to it. I think we can look at nonfiction through a little different lens than the all too common research paper. Lots of possibility.

    Cathy

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  5. Dear Linda,
    I love the way you wrote a poem using the titles of poetry you are using. I am definitely going to share this with my students. I'm looking forward to your blog this month and always enjoy reading your poetry.

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  6. You are a queen of poetry. See, I knew I didn't read enough poetry. I have been trying to read more poetry but I realize now I am still barely scratching the surface when it comes to poetry. I'm excited to read your poetry posts...I'll have to really dig in this summer when I have more time. I love your poems and the ones you shared.

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  7. Linda, that was great! Impressive :)
    I have heard great things about The Lions of Little Rock- can't wait to hear what you think.

    Happy reading this week! :)

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  8. I'm glad that you made mention of all these books, as I haven't read any of them yet! Will look out for the others (particularly the Jack Prelutsky and Jane Yolen one) - I have a feeling I'd enjoy them too! :)

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  9. So much great poetry to share! I hope you enjoy The Lions of Little Rock. One of the best new releases that I've read this year. Amazing character in Marlee.

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  10. Both Color Me A Rhyme and Insectopedia are in my poetry bins for this month. Thankfully our school library has a huge selection so I can add 60 books to those I have without it seeming like I have dented, let alone wiped out, the libraries selections.

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