Category: Poetry

Change It Up Fridays

11/13/2015

You know how school is more than doing reading, writing and arithmetic? Well lately that's what it seems like our school has been. I've been adding interactive stuff, but it's been rather helter-skelter. That hasn't been working for my organized, easily stressed, creative lad so I decided we'll put those creative elements on one day. I chose Friday because well.. I CAN. :) To that end on Fridays we'll be doing things like our
Interactive Math journal. Today our interactive journal was on the rules of patterning. Each day has a creative element, and my son made his element into a monster.

.Our Writing Poetry Lesson. Today we learned about Change Poetry. In change Poetry you talk about an object that changes three times. It follows an ABCB pattern. We are using Poetry Patterns and Themes as our study guide.

Learning about our own beloved country of Canada. As we are restarting this study, we started with making a puzzle map of Canada. As you can see our ever present helpers are helping him finish it up. They celebrated by eating cake (while we had lunch). :)

Geography of Europe by watching videos and making a meal of the country studied. This week it's Finland.

Our recorder Lessons. We're starting with the lessons from Schoolhouse Teachers. Today we learned how to make G and A and how to breathe softly.

Art Lessons. For now I am using a book called Hands On Art Projects.

Today the focus was on Michelangelo and how he used to go to the quarry for marble to make sculptures. As marble is out of my price range, we made do with soap.

The leftovers from the DOVE soap bar my lad stuck in the microwave, hoping it would completely blow up, .. it expanded but blow up it did not. The softened soap was then moulded into an art project as well but "MOM NO, no picture of this guy." :)

We are still doing important things like math, writing, and reading. Just in a different format yes?

It's interesting, despite this day taking a tad bit longer to accomplished our schooling in, no complaints from one boy child. AND THAT my readers... Is VERY good thing. :)

Poetry Lesson: Bananananananana

11/12/2015

I opened my book of poems and said Okay lad, pick a poem.

And this poem is the one he picked.

After I read the poem to him, I set it up like this:
Bananananananana
by William Cole

Line A I thought I'd win the spelling bee
Line B    And get right to the top
Line C But I started to spell "banana"
Line D And didn't know where to stop.

I asked him to read it himself, which he did quite nicely.
Did the normal thing of what's it called, who wrote it.   Then asked what he noticed.

1. MOM.. It's funny! :)   Right off the top he giggled at the silliness of this poem.
2. Lines B and D rhyme.   Top and Stop.

I asked if there was anything he didn't understand.
His response:
Nope.
Though mom, what's a spelling bee?
My response
Oh.. what where people have contests to see who can spell the most words correctly.

I challenged him to spell Banana.
And he got it correctly. :)

What words could you use if you wanted to continue this poem?
Hop and pop.   Or... DROP....

Poetry Lesson: The Troll

11/1/2015

Before reading this poem ask the question:
If a poem is called "the Troll" what do you think it will be about?
If you were going to describe a troll what words would you use?

The Troll was written by Jack Prelutsky,
This poem was a great start to learning about rhyming couplets with my son. It was so easy for my lad to hear the rhymes being made.

If you read it you'll notice that it rhymes in an A-B pattern (every other line rhymes).

Reading this poem with my son elicited comments of :
"Mom, do you suppose trolls really want to eat people?"
"Do you think trolls are ugly?   This poem makes them sound ugly".
"I bet that trolls are smart!"
"Did you see mom, how they are sneaky and wait for just the right moment"?
"How can a troll live if his blood is boiling"?

This poem was kinda of odd, and I have to admit, that if my introduction to had been this video below I probably wouldn't have liked it based it how it was read, but reading it to my lad and watching his reaction, made it seem just right.   :)   I loved how he just perked up with it, asking questions and just being very intrigued.

We looked at all the descriptive words in this poem. Did you notice how it's filled with them?

Loathsome
Slyly
Dingy
Boiling
Ghastly
Clutch
Grind
Scrambled

What emotions do these words evoke?
What do they even mean? Before looking at definitions I had my lad guess at what he thought they meant and he did a good job. :)

I find it fascinating how even if one doesn't really understand what a word means, that context can give you clues.

At the end of the poem I asked my son what he thought about trolls. His response was that trolls are smart and you have to be careful around them. Too bad for people who don't pay attention when out for a walk though.

Poetry Lesson: A Bug Sat in a Silver Flower

10/20/2015

What did you think?

I really didn't have to ask this... my boy let out a chortle of glee. :)

What made you laugh?
"Mom! Bugs don't have underwear!!!"

Words you don't know

Stalk: noun
stalk; plural noun: stalks
1. the main stem of a herbaceous plant.
"he chewed a stalk of grass"
"the stalk of a plant"
2. the slender attachment or support of a leaf, flower, or fruit.
"the acorns grow on stalks"

click image to go to source: Mr.Clay

The lad was able to determine the stem and leaf section make up the stalk of the plant. He added that it's easier to think of a stalk as being part of a piece of grass or the wheat we have come up from bunny leftovers growing in the compost.

Do you think it was fair?

Fair doesn't matter to bugs mom. He was hungry and the little bug wasn't paying attention. Bugs should always pay attention.

What do you see/hear when you look at and listen?

Some lines rhyme but others don't.
The poem moves in and out.. not all the lines are the same length.

Mom... are there really silver flowers?
That got me searching and I was able to find pictures of plants with silver foliage but none of a really silver flower (except fake ones). You can see them HERE.

Knowing this I asked the lad if he thought the flower was real or if the author was just using colourful language?

He really didn't know. Because either scenario would work. Bugs can be found everywhere...even on fake plants. BUT most likely, he thought, it was the author just using colourful language.

What does YOUR child see or hear with this poem??

Swift Things are Beautiful - A Poetry Study

10/8/2015

Swift Things are beautiful
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Swift things are beautiful:
Swallows and deer,
And lightening that falls
Bright-veined and clear,
Rivers and meteors,
Wind in the wheat,
The strong-withered horse,
The runner's sure feet.

And slow things are beautiful:
The closing of day,
The pause of the wave
That curves downward to spray,
The ember that crumbles,
The opening flower,
And the ox that moves on
In the quiet of power.

What is this poem about?
That is the question I asked my lad BEFORE I actually read the poem.
His response:
Spiders jumping, flies zooming, jumping spiders leaping

Was the Poem about what you thought?
No. It wasn't a good poem mom. It wasn't about what I thought it would be.

Can you think of how it was kinda like what you thought?
With a wrinkled brow he thought and said... well Spiders weren't mentioned...THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN... but she did talk about some things that were fast, and jumping spiders are slow to when they creep up on something.

BUT why he asked, did she start her poem off talking about fast things when she had slow things in it?

We didn't know the answer.
We did talk about comparison though and that perhaps that might have been her point.

Vocabulary
Withers: the highest part of a horse's back, lying at the base of the neck above the shoulders. The height of a horse is measured to the withers.

What do you see in the poem? How is it set up?
Some of the words rhyme... every other line. But not every other line, just some of them.

Be kind to your little Children

9/28/2015

Be kind to Your little children, Lord.
Be a gentle teacher,
patient with our weakness and stupidity.
And give us the strength and discernment to do what You tell us,
and so grow in Your likeness.
May we all live in the peace that comes from You.

May we journey towards Your city,
sailing through the waters of sin untouched by the waves,
borne serenely along by the Holy Spirit.

Night and day may we give you praise and thanks,
because You have shown us that all things belong to You,
and all blessings are gifts from You.

To You,
the essence of wisdom,
the foundation of truth,
be glory for evermore.

(A prayer of Clement of Alexandria)

HT Challies

Poetry: Wanted- A Witch's Cat - a lesson

9/24/2015

I am a firm believer that poetry is best learned by simply reading it and taking time with it. Why does an author use certain words? How does it make you feel? How it is set up? So I like to read poetry with my lad. :) Here's a sample of one we did today.

Wanted--A Witch's Cat
by Shelagh McGee
taken from Childcraft: The How and Why Library, Volume 3-Stories and Poems page 245

Wanted--a witch's cat.
Must have vigor and spite,
Be expert at hissing,
And good in a fight,
And have balance and poise
On a broomstick at night.

Wanted--a witch's cat.
Must have hypnotic eyes
To tantalize victims
And mesmerize spies,
And be an adept
At scanning the skies.

Wanted--a witch's cat,
With a sly, cunning smile,
A knowledge of spells
And a good deal of guile,
With a fairly hot temper
And plenty of bile.

Wanted--a witch's cat,
Who's not afraid to fly,
For a cat with strong nerves
The salary's high
Wanted--a witch's cat;
Only the best need apply.

What we did with this poem

Discussion:
What did you think of this poem?   I liked it!
What do you think about the cat wanted?
"I wouldn't want that cat.   I want a cat that would be nice and kind with me, like Milo, but I would also want a cat that would attack people who wanted to hurt you.   Milo doesn't do that mom".

Observation:
When you look at the poem, what do you see?
It's broken into sections.
Each section has six lines.   "MOM?   Do you think she did that on purpose"?
It doesn't rhyme.

Can you find words you don't know?

tantalize: torment or tease (someone) with the sight or promise of something that is unobtainable.
mesmerize: hold the attention of (someone) to the exclusion of all else or so as to transfix them.

guile: Sly or cunning intelligence
hypnotic: of producing or relating to hypnosis
poise: graceful and elegant bearing in a person.
adept:very skilled or proficient at something.
bile: anger, irritability

What kind of words were they?
They described the cat.
Which means they are what? Adjectives.

How did the poem make you feel?
This type of question is always hard for my boy.
He said "the poem made me feel interested sort of". :)

Give Yourself to the Rain

6/29/2015

One of the things I like to do with my boy is read poetry.

About six weeks ago we went to a book sale and I went from table to table looking for books on poetry suitable for my lad. NO ONE had any. I was devastated! It's hard to find books with poetry at yard sales.

Finally one of the vendors rifled through her books and came up with this one. Give yourself to the Rain - poems for the very young.

This book is written by Margaret Wise Brown.   She says "to write well for children one must love the things that children love".   And so she writes on the things that children do indeed love.

The last poem of the book, my son said "that was a good poem mom, I liked that one".

So allow me to share it with you.
Good-bye Little Bunny Good-bye.

Good-bye Little Bunny Good-bye
You'll be a rabbit soon
And no one can catch you
Running away
Under the changing moon
Too soon.
Good-bye little bunny good-bye
you'll be a rabbit
Soon

There were several other poems in the book that he liked as well, one even inspired him to make up his own short poem (which I am NOT allowed to share with you).    I can't say that I appreciated them all, but that's how it is with poetry (just like with art). You can't like everything all the time. But the poems entertained, inspired and taught my lad and that's exactly what I wanted. :)

Do you read poetry with your children?   If so, what books have intrigued them?   What author do you recommend?

Canadian Poems for Canadian Kids

5/11/2015

Cleaning my Room - by William New

My room is clean!! I've put away
the action figures, the modelling clay -

I've stuck the games behind the door,
and stacked the puzzles on the floor -

I've parked the cars, I've shelved the books,
I've hung my jacket near the hooks,

And piled the animals on the bed -
I'm not sure where I'll put my head

or hide the heap of railway track -
but I'll figure that out when I come back -

"My room is clean," I shout to Mum
as I run out to play in the sun -

24 poems in this short book ... Canadian Poems for Canadian kids.   I read one poem a night to my lad.   Some of these when I finished reading them my lad said "I like that one", The poem above sparked that immediate comment.   He had me read it again. :)

I like that response in my lad.

I can't say that we liked ALL of the poems in the book, a couple left us scratching our heads. But most were good and that was good.

The poems are written by a whole variety of individuals on a variety of topics.   In his foreword, P.K. Page says this " We need poets and their poetry". I know that regularly reading poems with my boy has been good for him even if we haven't delved into the different types of it. :) He just likes it! :)

So if you are Canadian (or even just like our land), perhaps this book might set well with you as well. :)   We did and recommend you reading it too. :)

Out Out by Robert Frost

4/2/2015

So I like reading through poetry books with my son.

Lately we are going through a book called "a Selection of English Poetry".

In it we found this poem that made an impact on my son. He was so startled that a boy could die from losing his hand, a boy who had been so proud he was doing a good job with the men.

He really thought about this poem and asked all sorts of questions.
Why would that boy die mom?
Why didn't his sister warn him she was going to talk to him?
Why couldn't the doctor save him?
Why mom????

‘Out, Out—’ By Robert Frost
The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep The life from spilling.
Then the boy saw all— Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

This thinking boy of mine... he ponders these things and asks deep questions. I never would have thought before how a poem could impact a person deeply.

Have you ever read something that impacted your children that it somehow changed them? Can you tell me about?