Review 5 -Read a Rhyme Write A Rhyme

Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme is a book with poems which are about things that most children enjoy, and begin with more concrete things (like talking about dogs) to more abstract things (like talking about oneself). The poetry is actually very good! The author did an excellent job of picking out poems that showcase the theme, but also have some substance to them and are entertaining to read.

Written by Jack Prelutsky, Read a Rhyme Write a Rhyme, gives three poems examples on a certain theme  and then it challenges its young reader to write their own poem using a Poem Start. Poem Starts give students the first few lines of the new poem in order to give them a push in their writing. Poem Starts are well done, creative and help children who may struggle with starting out the boost they need to write well. Here is an from the book; the theme is snow.

One Thing I Know

Snow's cold
Snow's white.
Snow's soft.
Snow's bright.
Ine thing
I know-
I DO
LIKE SNOW.
 --Ivy O. Eastwick

I will write an ending to the poemstrart (my addition will be in red).

Snow Poemstart

It's snowing on the treetops,
It's snowing in my house.
A mouse is running through the snow,
It's snowing on the mouse.

It's snowing in my backyard,
It's snowing outside my door.
Springtime, please come soon,
I can't take the snow anymore.

As you can see, I'm not a fan snow. A teacher can show the class his or her poemstart by writing on the board, or by projecting it on touch responsive board. Teachers may also want to use this book to aid with teaching words that rhyme, writing poetry with an ABCB rhyme  pattern (or rhyming patterns in general). Rhyming lesson plans would work very well. Here are a few: rhyme time,  reading, writing, rhyming, and rhyming lesson

Review 4- Dear Hot Dog

In all honesty, I found Dear Hot Dog- Poems About Everyday Stuff, to be a delightful book. My partner is not really sure how children would respond to these poems. [She doesn't] know if children would find the poems boring, or if they would find them relatable and like them. I think children (K-2nd grade) would enjoy these poems alot.  It is a 'typical' book to use in the classroom. However, some of the language in the poems can spark children to think deeply and to use very descriptive words when they are writing.

Summer Sun

Sometimes, though,
you play rough,
get too hot
and burn my nose.
Then I hide inside
till yawning evening
when you slip
drowsily
behind the
grassy hills,
and your
snoring sounds like
katydid and
cricket songs.

I found the language in some of the poems fragrant and beautiful.

Surprisingly, I found it difficult to find teaching resources online using this book. I did find tons of lesson plans for students to improve in their writing of poetry. I believe that Dear Hot Dog will help children look at anything and see it as a potential topic for poetry.

I like how the book pictures the children completely happy and satisfied with simple things. Contentment might be a character trait to go over with young students. One poem is about socks. While reading it, I thought to myself, I am just as happy when I am putting on a pair of thick socks on a cold day. I love how this book depicts the care free love young children have for the simple things in life.

A good writing assignment could be, after having read this book, the teacher could put a bunch of class room items in a bag. Each children could pick one, then based on what they took out, he or she could write a poem about it.

Review 3- Hip Hop Speaks to Children

As my partner has said:  "this book should be a staple in any classroom from grades 3-5 because it really welcomes and engages those who cannot relate to the traditional type of literature provided in the classroom",  I completely agree with this statement.

Edited by Nikki Giovanni, Hip Hop Speaks to Children is a vibrant, powerful, collection of jazz, blues, and hip hop music that can be summed up into one word: poetry. Nikki Giovanni masterfully has taken poems and music that was not originally intended for children but has preserved the soul of the content and made it palatable for young learners.  Here is a short explanation of the book by Nikki Giovanni. A teacher may want to cut this down to about a minute and half as not to lose her students interest.

Nikki Giovanni explains Hip Hop Speaks to Children

The month of April is National Poetry Month. I think this book would be a great tool to use to get children excited about poetry during this month. The beauty of this book is that just in case the CD gets scratched or is not with the book when it is borrowed from the library, a teacher can download the instrumental version of many of these song “poems”.  I posted several of the instrumental or full version of the music below.
 Ham and Eggs
Funky Snowman
Everything is Everything 

I loved that the book has Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. My family probably believed I wasn’t really doing work while I was listening to it. But like me, students will most likely dance and get into the music. The instrumental version can be used for a writing assignment. Students can write their own Rapper’s Delight and perform it using the music. Students will most likely enjoy  as well and it is worth listening to in the classroom.

My partner brought up a very good question concerning grammar since most of the poetry here is written in African American vernacular. She wonders “How do you introduce these poems to the students? Would you tell them that this is not the ‘proper’ way to speak? If so, wouldn’t that alienate the students who do speak that way, basically going against what you are trying to accomplish by welcoming them into the classroom community? How do you approach a topic such as this”?

It is the teacher’s job to correct students’ grammar, in my opinion. I’m sure there is a way to do so without alienating students. I would explain that families and communities communicate in a certain but the way that I am teaching you is the correct way to say it or write it. To further illustrate my point I will use the poem: why some people be mad at me sometimes. I probably would make this poem title and a few more sentences part of the morning meeting message and have the students tell me how could this be said and written the right way. I think that sometimes we shrink back from telling students that there is a right and wrong way to do, write, and say things. When we do this, we are ultimately hurting our students.

Review 2- Emma's Poem

Linda Glaser's children's book, Emma's Poem, is simplistic account of the life of the woman who wrote arguably the most famous poem about The Statue of Liberty. Emma's Poem is an ideal book to dove-tail  a unit on Citizenship in Social Studies. With it's painting like illustrations by Claire Nivola, this book will grab the attention of upper elementary school  learners and tug at their hearts as well.

As my partner has already stated Emma's Poem is a book about Emma Lazarus, a wealthy Jewish woman who had grown up in New York City with “plenty of everything.” Although she herself had never experienced suffering and poverty, she was moved when she visited Ward’s Island and saw the newly arrived immigrants, many of whom were sick and hungry. Of these immigrants, most were Jewish, like Emma, and they had left [Eastern]Europe because their friends and relatives were being killed. Emma felt as though it was her duty to help them, so she tried her best to raise awareness through her writings. Some people helped, but many felt that these immigrants would “ruin the country.” Although, at this point in time, “women kept their thoughts quiet,” Emma was a well-known writer and she was asked to submit a poem to raise money to erect the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor. Emma imagined that the Statue of Liberty was there to welcome the new immigrants, since that would be one of the first things they saw when they arrived, and wrote a beautiful poem for them. Many years later, Emma’s poem was placed inside the entrance of the Statue of Liberty and was sung in classrooms around the country.

This book is a teacher's dream-come-true! In simplistic language and short phrases, a teacher able to expain many things.

1. Where  did the Statue of Liberty come from? Why do we have? What does it mean? Has the meaning changed of the years? Does it mean different to different people?
2. (In light of Social Studies Core Curriculum-Grade 4) How have individuals (Emma Lazarus) help to strenghten democracy in the United States? Culturally  how has American society developped and changed? What events have played a part in uniting all Americans
3. How were early immigrants treated? What does the Statue of Liberty mean for immigrants?
4. How were the poor treated? How are they treated now?

There are a plethora of websites that offer excellent resources for parents to use to educate children on immigration, U.S. citizenship, and poetry. Here are just a few that like Emma Lazarus' famous poem, The Statue Liberty, and U.S Citizenship/Social Studies: BrainPop,  PBS,  thirteen, and my personal favorite, A Read-Alound Lesson Plan

Review1- Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It

Written by Gail Carson Levine, Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It is a hilarious devious poetry book of false apologies. Even the Table of Contents is a bit rude as all forty-seven poems have the same title: This is just to say. 

The author's introduction is found about five or six pages  after the first few poems much to the editor's great chagrin. Gail Carson Levine writes a nasty little false apology to her as well.

This is juts to say

Instead of at the beginning

I slipped

this introduction

in here

where

my editor excruciatinly loudly

screeched

it does not belong

Forgive me

I also shredded

her red pencil and stirred

the splinters into her tea

Gail Carson Levine's sinister humor was inspired by William Carlos Williams, a poet and physician who wrote a famous false apology (a note) to his wife after he had eaten her plums. You can read the poem, if you follow the link, here.

Although, this book was inspired by William Carlos Williams and it is written for elementary school children, I found it difficult to find teacher materials specifically by Williams for this age group. I believe his poems may be more suitable for junior high  and high school students.  I'm sure if teaching elementary school children "false apologies" through poetry, would go well with parents.

My questions are:

1. How could a teacher teach poetry using this example in a positive light?
2. How would parents react?
3. Would this type of poetry benefit younger learners?

All and all, I think Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It is loads of fun and would make students laugh. I think it's good to teach children humor from various prespectives; sarcasm can be seen in literature. It doesn't seem wrong to me that's it's a part of creative writing and poetry. As my partner stated this book is "Absolutely brilliant! The poems all follow the same verse-like pattern, although they do not all rhyme. I mean, it doesn’t exactly send the best message, since false apologies aren’t necessarily nice, but it’s a great read and many children would unquestionably love it"

Review of Fiction in Verse

 Hola Fellow Children´s Lit Bloggies:

 Here I have written a list of the 5 children's books which I have read and written reviews.

1. Blues Journey- Walter Dean Myers
2. Step Gently Out- Helen Frost
3. Zorgamazoo- Rober Paul Weston
4. Out of the Dust- Karen Hesse
5. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village- Laura Schiltz

All of these books are under the Fiction in Verse genre (Novel in verse). They vary in age appropriate-ness, but they were all usable books to complement units in either E.L.A, Science or Social Studies.

Feel free to read these books to your kiddies and comment.

Happy Reading,

El

Text 5- Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

Written by Laura Amy Schlitz, a school librarian, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!Voices from the Medieval Village, is a unique collection of monologue and dialogue poems that would be a perfect addition to  an elementary Social Studies curriculum. This book of miniature plays was inspired by the students of Schlitz's school who were studying the Middle Ages and were really getting into it; they were building catapults and miniature castles.  Schlitz wanting to extend the students learning created characters for the students to act out, such as Taggot the Blacksmith's Daughter; Pask the Runaway; and Jack the Half-wit.



The book is set in a medieval manor in England; the year is 1255. Although the characters are all children from ages 9-15, they vary in class and life situations. Some are nobility such as Isobel the Lord's daughter, others are very poor like Giles the beggar, all have their lives in some way interwoven with those around them.

In eighty-one pages, Schlitz addresses difficult issues in life, and issues that would have effected the lives of children that lived in the thirteenth century.

My father died last winter-

also the chickens. Choked themselves-

thrased and turned sick, after all the trouble I had

plucking their grass and cleaning their muck

and not one egg.

On the side margins of each page, there are captions that explain what the words and expressions used mean. For example, when people said choked in the thirteenth century they were referring to  "gapes" an illness caused by roundworms blocking the trachea so that animals would choke to death. Throughout the book there are also pages dedicated to explaining customs and events that happened during this time. Students will find short yet descriptive information  on: medieval pilgrimages, The Crusades, Jews in medieval society, and even one on the practice of falconry. All pages are accompanied with lively colorful cartoon-like illustrations.

This book is a great resource to ignite students as they study the Middle Ages. It is written so that 20 students get speaking parts in a play. I love how it is fun but not fluffy. It allows children to see what life was like for the rich and for the poor; for Jews and for Christians. A great conversation can follow the study of this unit of race and class in equalities. Teachers may want to ask: What are some themes here (in the Middle Ages) that we still see today? Have there been any improvements?

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village makes a unit on the Middle Ages come to life.