Poetry Charts Part 2

Hello Teachers,

We all want our students to write one poem after another during our poetry unit of study.  We hope that they choose meaningful topics and look at the world with a sense of wonder.  You can give them some mentors who do this such as Georgia Heard and Valarie Worth.  And, you can chart some of the same strategies these poets use on charts for your young writers. 

Two examples of these charts are shown below.  Thanks to Bianca, one of our followers, for sharing these!  You'll notice that the second chart was used to help kids make songs too.

We also know it is important to have examples of poems up in the classroom so kids can see the writing craft that their mentors use.  Bianca shared this example of a Valarie Worth poem with me.  Notice how she and her students highlighted some craft the author has used.  Now, with coaching, the students can try some of these things themselves.

This Valerie Worth poem, Coins, can be found in her book tall the small poems and fourteen more.  it is filled with great poems to use in your k-2 writing workshop.

Poetry Charts

Hello Poets,

Lucy Calkins and Stephanie Parsons teach us that poets often write about deep feelings with honest and precise language in their beautiful minilessons in Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages.  I love the way they ask kids to be honest with the words they choose.

I have been wondering how I can capture some of the things that poets do, like using honest and precise language, and create some strategy charts to go along with the minilessons I teach.  I want the young poets I teach to be able to write poems about big feelings too, and to have some ways of finding honest and precise words.  The following is a chart that a first grade class and I made together this week to help us write poems with big feelings using honest and precise words.

Happy writing.  I hope you and your writers enjoy this time to celebrate poetry with one another!

Poetry Centers Book List

Hello Teachers,

I've been busy collecting some poems for kindergarten, first, and second grade students to read in Poetry Centers.  You may have some favorites too.  Share them with us!  I searched for poems that help kids understand the following:

• Poets can use honest language to create strong images.
• Poets can use interesting patterns on the page to create sound and rhythm.
• Poets can write about big feelings they have and make their readers feel big feelings.

We sorted some of the poems into three simple categories so kids could read poems around topics first and then later they could perhaps sort them like writers, noticing some of the author's craft. 
 

Poems about Different Kinds of Animals:

Turtle by Charlie Reed

Cow by Valerie Worth

Goldfish by Valerie Worth

Fish by Mary Ann Hoberman

Cat in the Dark by John Agard

Cat Kisses by  Bobbie Katz

Poems about Nature:

March by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Pebbles by Valerie Worth

Sky by Grace Nichols

From My Window by Zaro Weil

Mermaid’s Lullaby by Jane Yolen

The Wind by Stanley Cook

Rainy Day by William Wise

Spring by Hugo Majer

Silence by Eve Merriam

SSSH by Betsy Hearne

Sunrise by Frank Asch

Autumn Leaves by Leland B. Jacobs

Go Wind by Lilian Moore

Until I Saw the Sea by Lilian Moore

Poems About Insects:

Fireflies by Zaro Weil

Clickbeetle by Mary Ann Hoberman

Ants Live Here by Lilian Moore

The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti

Crickets by Valerie Worth

If You Catch a Butterfly by Lilian Moore

Hey Bug by Lilian Moore

 

Many of the poems above are favorites of children's author Georgia Heard and mentioned in her professional resources as well.  Her resources for supporting kids as the read poetry include Climb Inside a Poem and Awakening the Heart.  

You will also want to have a collection of poetry anthologies on hand in your classrooms.  Some Georgia's anthologies as well as other favorite anthologies are listed below. 

Stella Unleashed by Linda Ashman and Paul Meisel

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia Maclachlan and Emily Maclachlan Charest

Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard

Animal Poems by Valerie Worth

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth

The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems by Mary Ann Hoberman

Climb Inside a Poem (Big Book) by Georgia Heard

Falling Down The Page: A Book of List Poems by Georgia Heard

Honey I Love and Other Love Poems by Eloise Greenfield

I have plans to put up more charts, video, and mentor text to support poetry reading and writing this month.  Looking forward to sharing more with all of you!

 

Content Area Reading and Writing: Insect Book List

Hello Teachers/Friends,

Some of us are embarking on a science, reading, and writing study soon in our classrooms.  We are ordering bugs, caterpillars, worms, and more in preparation for our students to observe animal life cycles.  You may also be shopping for some books so kids can read about these insects during reading workshop.  I just did some browsing myself and thought I would share the lists I made. 

Happy Reading!

Books for Content Area Study of Insects:

Ladybug Books

 Books found at Amazon.com and Other Online Booksellers:

Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright by Mia Posada

A Ladybug’s Life by J. Himmelman

Ladybugs by Claire Llewellyn

Ladybugs and Other Insects (Scholastic First Discovery) by Gallimard Jeunesse

A Ladybug Larva Grows Up (Scholastic News Non-fiction) by Katie Marsico

The Life Cycle of a Ladybug (Learning About Life Cycles) by Ruth Thompson

Ladybug (Life Cycles) by David M Schwartz

Books found at Book Source:

Are You A Ladybug by Judy Allen

Hungry Ladybugs by Judith Jango-Cohen

Crawl, Ladybug, Crawl! By Dana Meach Rau

Ladybug, Ladybug, What Are You Doing (Board Book) by Rourke, Eds.

Ladybugs by Margaret Hall

Ladybugs by Chery Coughlan

Mealworm to Beetle Books

Books found at Amazon.com and Other Online Booksellers:

From Mealworm to Beetle: Following the Life Cycle (Amazing Science) by Laura Purdie Salas

Mealworms (Watch it Grow) by Martha E. H. Rustad

Beetles (Welcome Books) by Edana Eckart

A Mealworm’s Life by John Himmelman

Young Naturalist’s Pop-Up Handbook:  Beetles – Book #1 (Young Naturalist’s Handbook) by Robert Sabuda

Butterfly Books

Books found at Amazon.com and Other Online Booksellers:

Time for Kids: Butterflies! By Editors of Time for Kids

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly by Bobbie Kalman

Are You A Butterfly? By Judy Allen

The Life Cycles of Butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, A Visual Guide to 23 Common Garden Butterflies by Judy Burris

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman

Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons

Monarch Butterfly (Life Cycles) by David M. Schwartz

A Monarch Butterfly’s Life by John Himmelman

Ant Books

Books found at Amazon.com and Other Online Booksellers:

National Geographic Readers: Ants by Melissa Stewart

Are You An Ant? (Backyard Books) by Judy Allen

Inside an Ant Colony (Rookie Read-About Science) by Allan Fowler

The Life and Times of the Ant by Charles Micucci

Time for Kids: Ants! by Editors of Time for Kids

The Life Cycle of an Ant by Hadley Dyer (a Bobbie Kalman book)

Ant Cities (Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out Science 2) by Arthur Dorros

 

Celebrate National Poetry Month

Hello Teachers/Writers,

Spring is in the air and I am busy gathering a new collection.  "Of what?" you might ask.  Well, I'll tell you. 
Poems. 

I am gathering them from lots of different places and getting inspiration from several other bloggers, teachers and kids.  One of my favorite sites right now is the Poetry Everywhere site from PBS.  Lucille Clifton is one of my favorite poets of all time and I thought this clip would welcome us all into the celebration that is National Poetry month.  You can see more of these great videos at the Poetry Everywhere site.  Thank you PBS!

Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

"won't you celebrate with me..."

 

Another favorite of teachers is this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

"Music lives inside my legs..."

I also found a lovely blog, with several great suggestions for anthologies and ways to use poetry in the classroom.  Go to http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/

I'll be back with some of my favorite poems and suggestions for ways we can help kids read and write poetry later this month.  Happy collecting! 

Support for Students with Autism

This week I was profoundly changed by a workshop here at Teachers College.  Kelly Chandler-Alcott and Paula Kluth presented a workshop to support teachers who work with students diagnosed on the PDD spectrum.  One of the many things we learned was to be open to various ways students communicate with us and to seek out news ways for them to have their voices heard.  One of my favorite parts of the day was a short clip where we were able to hear the ideas and perspectives from a 7th grade student.  I'll share it with you in the link below.

To view this at the Storycorps site, click here.

Or, go there by typing http://storycorps.org/animation

Q & A

12-year-old Joshua Littman, who has Asperger's syndrome, interviews his mother.

Paula and Kelly also shared some concrete ways to adapt things like read aloud for students with autism.  You can find some of these suggestions at Paula's website.

Text Sets To Use in Teaching

Are you thinking about teaching kids to think and talk across books about bigger themes?  The Common Core Standards invite students to do this work in first and second grade.  Many of us are including this in our teaching in Read Aloud as well as independent reading.

The challenge:  getting sets of books that belong together in the hand of kids!  Some teachers and I have been thinking about this and we have conquered the challenge.  At first we rushed to order new sets of books for our classroom libraries.  "What are the book lists?" the teachers asked me.  I suggested that we go with interests of the students and invite the kids to make sets of books from the baskets that are already in the classroom libraries.  Really... it works!  We found these examples of text sets on my shelf. Enjoy!  I hope you and your students have fun learning about interesting topics!

Some Text Sets from My Shelf That You Can Use to…

• Teach kids how to study and learn about a topic.
• Teach kids to talk across books during read aloud or partner time.
• Teach kids to notice themes across books.
• Teach kids to use content specific vocabulary in their accountable partner talk.

Sports:

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

Mr. Putter and Tabby Run the Race by Cynthia Ryalnt

Sam Plays Paddle Ball by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Max Rides His Bike by Jenny Giles (published by Rigby)

Sam’s Race by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Good Sports:  Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More  by Jack Prelutsky

My Basketball Book by Gail Gibbons

My Soccer Book by Gail Gibbons

Dogs:

Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog by Cynthia Rylant

Henry and Mudge and the Big Test by Cynthia Rylant

“The Trouble with Dogs…” Said Dad by Bob Graham

Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest

Stella Unleashed:  Notes from the Doghouse by Linda Ashman

Trucks:

Earthmovers by Lee Sullivan Hill

Toby and B.J. by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Toby and the Accident by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Toby at Stony Bay by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Toby and the Big Red Van by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Toby and the Big Tree by Annette Smith (published by Rigby)

Construction Zone by Cheryl Willis Hudosn, Photos by Richard Solbol