Poetry-a-Plenty, by Sandy Meagher

There's a bumper crop of wonderful poetry books out there – here are a few picks your students will love

Teacher Amy Williams and her third grade class display some of their very favorite poems

One of Amy Williams' goals in her third grade classroom this year was to improve reading fluency and comprehension. Certainly, all elementary grade teachers have this goal – however, not everyone comes up with an ingenious way to achieve this. Amy wrote a grant and received $500 for supplies and materials. She decided that she would use poetry to accomplish the goal she had set for herself. Outside of her classroom, she posted the beloved Shel Silverstein poem which begins, "If you are a dreamer, come in," from Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings, (HarperCollins, 30th Anniversary edition, 2004, ISBN: 0-060-57234-5).

I have this cassette tape in the library and I could just hear Silverstein's dreamy voice beckoning me to come in every time I passed by her classroom.

Funny poems
One project of Amy's where the library got involved with the students was the "Poem of the Week." Students read many kinds of poems and each week chose one to be posted by the Parent – Child Bulletin Board and in the library listening center. Two funny books chosen were both by Bruce Lansky – Rolling in the Aisles: A Collection of Laugh-Out-Loud Poems (Meadowbrook Press, 2004, ISBN: 0-689-03766-X) and If Pigs Could Fly…and Other Deep Thoughts (Meadowbrook Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-689-83291-5). These poems are easy to read and very laughable which always draws young readers in.

Another book that I thought teachers would find very helpful for teaching poetry is Practical Poetry: A Nonstandard Approach to Meeting Content-Area Standards by Sara Holbrook (Heinemann, 2005, ISBN: 0-325-00767-5).

A house of poetry
As I'm sure you know, poetry can be so many special things. Renowned educator, Bee Cullinan, asked poet Lee Bennett Hopkins why we should use poetry with students. He answered her with the following poem.

Why Poetry?
Why?
Why sunsets?
Why trees?
Why birds?
Why seas?
Why you?
Why me?
Why friends?
Why families?
Why laugh?
Why cry?
Why hello?
Why good-bye?
Why poetry?
That's why!

Why Poetry? Copyright © 1996 by Lee Bennett Hopkins.
Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

More poetry picks
Our students also worked hard at selecting and learning famous poems. They then read and shared their poems and used them as models for writing their own poems. A very special book that was a great help for both students and teachers was Wonderful Words: Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Simon & Schuster, 2004, ISBN: 0-689-83588-4). This is a selection of powerful poems that create awesome imagery – you must try it! It includes poems by poets of the past as well as contemporary poets.

Now that spring is upon us, everyone is ready to get outdoors. A great book for celebrating spring is Over in the Pink House: New Jump Rope Rhymes by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (Boyds Mills Press 2004, ISBN: 1-590-78027-2). Great rhymes for indoor and outdoor recess. Get out those jump ropes!

Thanks to Amy for all these wonderful books and activities. All of this can be adapted for any grade – believe me, just get to the library and check out as many of these books as you can. Adapt these activities to fit into your curriculum and you are set to go. How I love working with all these creative teachers and students!

SPECIAL SECTION
Getting Parents Involved
To increase parent involvement, students kept their poetry notebooks filled with favorite poems or ones they thought parents would like. The notebooks were taken home and read with an adult. Then they were to respond to questions such as, How could you relate or connect to the poem? How did it make you feel? Did you ever feel like the poet did?

Students became very involved in writing poetry without rhyme about natural beauty and also chose the theme, "My Favorite Things" to write about in free verse. They wrote, read and presented a program for their parents. A special poem was written by third grader, Cole Stengel (used with permission).

My Favorite Things
Having hot chocolate
With my older brother
Playing street hockey,
Laughing with my friends,
Playing football
Having a snow fight.
These are a few of
my favorite things.

One of my favorite things to use with a teacher, parent, or friend is the book, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman (Little, Brown & Company, 2004, ISBN:0-316-14611-1). Each story is told in "two voices" and uses traditional reading techniques – alliteration, rhyme, repetition and short sentences. Another great one to use together is Read-Aloud Rhymes For the Very Young selected by Jack Prelutsky (Knopf, 1986, ISBN: 0-394-87218-5).

Sandy Meagher is the Library Department Chairperson and School Librarian in the Wayne Highlands School District, Honesdale, PA.