April - Poetry Month - Day Three - Cinquain

  

       Happy Poetry Month, where poems parade in the streets, run like rivers within our veins or settle in our hearts every.single,time. 

       I am planning to use this older book pictured left that follows the alphabet with one kind of prompt each day. I used this book on occasion in the classroom years ago, but never worked through it day by day, with deliberation! Here goes!

Today I wrote thanks to Laura Purdie-Salas' challenge HERE. Must choose one of the topics & use the words she posts. It isn't an easy task, but fun finally to create something that made sense. 

       Today, for your information: The Rules of a Cinquain

These are the rules: Cinquains are five lines long. They have 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second, 6 in the third, 8 in the fourth line, and just 2 in the last line. Cinquains do not need to rhyme, but you can include rhymes if you want to.

C is for Cinquain

Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

Poetry Friday - Windows

        It's Poetry Friday, first week of February, here with Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids. She has written a love poem I'm sure will be loved! Thanks, Laura!

          I'm hosting next week on Valentine's Day, sweetest day of the year! Be sure you prepare some sugary love!

          I've been reading a book by Billy Collins that came into the bookstore, one I didn't know titled The Trouble with Poetry and other poems. In one poem, "Monday" he begins with 
                 "The birds are in their trees,
                   the toast is in the toaster,
                   and the poets are at their windows."

          Continuing, Billy Collins speaks of others at their work, like "The clerks are at their desks,/the miners are down in their mines,/and the poets are looking out their windows." You can imagine some of the rest, and you can listen to Billy reading it here! 

           Instead of writing anew, I started reading through some of the poems I've written and realize, in some, though not all, I was looking out my window. Here's a new one, followed by some previously written, "out my window"!

my pine
carries winter's burden-
glad to be limber -
 

Monday Reading - Exciting Cover Reveal!

              Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites.   

     I'm excited to host a cover reveal for Laura Purdie Salas' first fiction picture book!

       


        
              
          I own a few of Laura's books. Do you recognize these? They are all wonderful and all poetry!

         

This time, Laura is branching out!  

 Introducing Clover Kitty Goes to Kittygarden!

          Coming this summer, you'll have the pleasure of reading all about Clover Kitty who goes off to Kittygarten only to discover that the classroom is too loud, other kitties get too close, and her teacher Ms. Snappytail doesn't smell good! Things are not "purrrrrfect" at all. For kids who are sensory sensitive and need some alone time, too, the story will be a feel-good one for them and will help others understand their classmates better, too. Hiroe Nakat's illustrations are filled with bright and colorful Kittygarten images.

You can find Laura at her website HERE.

You can find Hiroe Nakata HERE. 

                       Congratulations, Laura and Hiroe for this book debut!        

Non-Fiction Picture Books Teach With Poetry

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!  I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!

            I'm happy to highlight Laura Purdie Salas' new rhyming poetry book, thanks to Laura, NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the ARC. It comes out officially in early September, will be a great start for students to begin learning about animal preparation for winter. Yes, they will begin in September. Autumn arrives on September 23rd in North America.

         Laura's clear and brief poems show her expertise in relaying pertinent and interesting information for young readers. She's divided winter preparation behavior into three parts, and then includes differences within those categories. With a shout-out to all the wonderful things one can do in autumn, a shout to do them because it's time for a change! "The banquet of autumn will soon fade away", it's time to turn the page (and season) to discover those animals that migrate to warmer places. The hummingbird doubles its size to have strength for the long journey, the monarch flies south to mate and ensure future families. I imagine children will love these familiar beginnings, then be eager to learn more. 

        Others do migrate, like the blue whale, swimming many miles to warmer water. We think miles, but another kind of migration only means to 'dig deeper', as worms do. They "Vacuum dead leaves like a super-slow sweeper/Forget going south. Just wiggle down deeper!"  Each spread offers a second bit of prose information about each animal.

         Animals, of course, don't always move; some do other kinds of preparation, eating more and more in order to take naps, short ones in a den with a stash of seeds and nuts like chipmunks or long ones, like bears. These hibernating animals are known more than others, but Laura's choices continue to suprise as she did with the worm above, this time with the Northern Wood Frog who amazes as a "frog icy pop". 

        Much information is given in the poems, the small bits of information adds to them, and  Claudine Gévry's illustrations illuminate in her soft pastels. She places the animals in settings that show the habitat and the action, like a tiny mouse stocking up its pantry, gathering seeds on what looks like a warm autumn day, then tunneling to its cozy den, Laura writes, "Hope that your tunnel doesn't collapse." 

         It's challenging not to tell about every bit of this book that is perfect for autumn learning. It's entertaining with Laura's clever wordplay shown in each poem. Here's one more sample in the final section, animals that stay and change with the colder weather, this time about moose: "Grow a new coat that's cozy and warm./Stay toasty no matter how brutal the storm."

          There is expanded information in the Backmatter. It would aid a plan for further research into these animals' lives or jumpstart wider research about animal behavior prepping for winter. Laura offers a glossary, explains three survival strategies, and a short piece telling more of these amazing survivors. It's terrific!

         

All In The Families

art by Sarah S. Brannen

          Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  From her and others, you will discover and want to celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!

           Thanks for the advanced copy of this book from Laura Purdie Salas. Say Happy Birthday to it tomorrow, March 1st! 

           Early in school, sometimes even pre-school, curriculums include studies of families. And sometimes picture books are read to children that show what used to be a "normal" family: mother, father, one or more kids. In our world, however, lots of different human families exist and it's great to know that "normal" is just a six-letter word that includes a wide array of combinations. It's also terrific to see different make-ups of families presented by Laura in her latest book, Meet My Family, Animal Babies and Their Families. Laura is known for numerous and marvelous non-fiction poetry books like A Rock Can Be, and while the writing is poetic, this is not a poetry book, but a wonderful sharing of twenty-two animal babies and families, and a peek at a few human families, too! 

           There are interesting differences among the behaviors: some fight for food with siblings like pigs; other stay with families for a long time, like beavers for two years; and all the 'ladies' in the elephant herd care for the young, no males allowed! Interesting diversity is shown with river otters, who play and stay all together. Everyone cares for the other, a big family, contrasted with the baby green sea turtle who from its hatching, must fend for itself, all alone.