Children’s Lit

Post your projects in the comments section  for the benefit of other teachers. 🙂

Here are some poetry links you may find helpful:

Newspaper Poems

Parts of Speech Poetry

Guided Reading/Poetry Ideas

Poetry Blog with tons of links

Giggle Poetry

Poetry for Children (GREAT Blog)

Farmschool Blog Poetry Page

Gods, Man, and Comics: George O’Connor’s Olympians


5 Commentsto Children’s Lit

  1. Cristina Bonilla says:

    http://www.k12.hi.us/~shasincl/poems_prop_cycle_weather.html#raindrops

    Raindrops
    rain
    drops
    drip
    down
    all
    day
    long.
    drip down,
    slip down,
    splashing out their song.
    thunder-crashing
    splishing
    splashing,
    slipping,
    dripping,
    raining down
    their rainy
    raindrop
    song.
    by Helen H. Moore

      EVALUATING the poem RAINDROPS

    by Helen H. Moore for children ages 6-8

      Form:

    The first thing a child will notice about this poem is its shape. It looks different. It is long almost like it is falling down the page, one word at a time. The title of the poem is Raindrops. The shape of the poem, could indeed be a raindrop, dripping down the page.

      Sound:

    The poem has instant appeal for children. The words are full of action and the sound of rain coming down out of our mouths as we say the poem.

      Language:

    The poem uses alliteration, repetition of initial consonant sounds. The initial consonant sounds of the D and R from the word Raindrops are repeated throughout the poem. In addition, the initial consonant sounds of s, sl and sp are also repeated. Onomatopoeia which is the use of words that make a sound like the action represented by the word is very much apparent in this poem. You can almost hear the rain coming down around you as you say this poem. Raindrops rain drops drip down all day long, drip down, slip down, splashing out their song. thunder-crashing splishing splashing, slipping, dripping, raining down their rainy raindrop song.

      Rhythm:

    The rhythm of the poem is very pronounced. The rhythm seems to resonate as drops of water coming down from the sky, making the sounds of rain water on a rainy day. The rhythm reinforces and creates the meaning of the poem. Each word resonates with a single drop, falling down, creating a definite chant of single drops coming down all day long. Once the children master a few of the beginning consonants, there is enough deliberate, slow repetition, that it will be easy enough for the children to guide themselves through.

      Emotional Intensity:

    The emotional intensity of the poem is perhaps the most important part of this poem. It is appropriate for young children. The playful imagery of rain dripping on their wet faces provides feelings of joy, glee and wonder. It is this intense emotion which will allow children to draw from their experiences to begin to express their feelings and to learn how to describe them, both verbally and in writing.

      Purpose:

    The purpose of the poem can be expanded or taken just at face value for very young children. The experience of rain is magical to children. Describing a magical experience in a poem, is a very good way to introduce poetry to children at the very young age. Poetry should be much like a raindrop….fun; filled with wonder; a magical sensory experience; and allows our imagination to be filled with emotional intensity. Experiencing poetry in this manner will help you guide children when talking about or creating their own poetry. This poem can easily be used to integrate it into a theme about weather, or water conservation, or just about enjoying rain with all of its sound.
    ACTIVITIES
    1.

      Objective:

    To give children the opportunity to appreciate and enhance their imagination in regards to some of the sounds made by raindrops in the poem. The Big Book of Reading, Rhyming, & Resources by Maddigan & Drennan
    Age Group: 6-8 Year Olds.

      Activity:

    The students will make their own simple rain stick. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/music/rainstick/

      Directions:

    Trace around the end of your tube onto a piece of brown paper (or construction paper). Draw a bigger circle around that circle and then draw a lot of spokes between the two circles. Cut along the spokes. Put glue on the spokes and glue the cap onto one end of your tube. Cut a piece of aluminum foil that is about one and half times the length of your tube and about 6 inches wide. Crunch the aluminum foil into two long, thin, snake-like shapes. Then twist each one into a spring shape. Put the aluminum foil springs into your tube. Pour some dry beans, dry rice, or unpopped popcorn into your tube. The tube should only be about 1/10 full. You can experiment to see how different amounts and different types of seeds and beans change the sound. Make another cap from brown paper (the same as the first three steps) and cap your tube. Optional: Decorate the tube by covering it with brown paper or construction paper, and then making designs with crayons or markers (or cut-out paper or stickers).
    2.

      Objective:

    To give children the opportunity to express what they have learned about raindrops and the water cycle.
    Age Group: 6-8 Year Olds.

      Materials Needed:

    a)Paper Towel tubes-1 per person; b) aluminum foil; c) small dried beans, lentils, rice, unpopped popcorn-1 handful per person; d) Construction paper-various colors-1 per child; e) glue; f) scissors; g) crayons, markers.
    Activity: Give the students 2 large pre-cut raindrops. On one raindrop, glue lined paper. Ask the students to use their imaginations and pretend they are the raindrops falling from the sky. Ask them to write and illustrate on their raindrops why and where they fell down; what they saw as they were falling; what they fell on; how did it feel to rain on people, animals, buildings, sidewalks, plants, etc.

      Materials Needed:

    a)2 Large pre-cut raindrops from construction paper for each child. b) Lined paper to glue on one raindrop. c) Crayons, pencils.
    3. Objective: To teach the water cycle: continuous movement of water from the oceans and fresh water sources to
    the air and land and then back to the oceans. http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/wsb/index.html
    At the end of this lesson, the students shall be able to do the following: 1. Construct a water cycle wheel; 2. Name the three major components of the water cycle- Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation
    Age Group: 6-8 Year Olds.

      16 Very Short animation slides.

    Click on the link below and project on a screen for the children to watch “Drippy” the Raindrop fall to the ground!
    http://www.kimballmedia.com/Drippy/DrippysWorldTrialStories/ToMountainsAndBack/Entry.htm
    Discuss how “Drippy” became a raindrop.

      SONG: “Why is it Raining Raindrops” to be downloaded.


    http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/play-educational-song.php?song=Why%20Is%20It%20Raining%20Raindrops
    You can download and play song and then discuss the song “Why is it Raining Raindrops”.

      Have students construct a water cycle wheel

    . http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/wsb/index.html

      Materials Needed:

    a)activity sheet with the raindrops and arrows; b) paper plate-one for each child, with the squares cut out ahead of time for the children; c)paper fastener; d) crayons.

    • Ali Amidon says:

      Shape Poem

      I am Cindy Circle
      Watch me turn
      Round and round
      And you will learn
      I’m not straight and
      I don’t bend
      My outside edges
      Never end!

      Sammy Square is my name
      My four sides are just the same
      Turn me around, I don’t care
      I’m always the same, I’m a square!

      I am Danny Diamond
      I am like a kite
      But I’m really just a square
      Whose corners are pulled tight

      Ricky rectangle is my name
      My four sides are not the same
      Two are short and two are long
      Count my sides, come along
      1-2-3-4

      Tommy Triangle is the name for me
      Count my sides – there’s 1-2-3

      I am Ollie Oval
      A football shape is mine
      Some people think that I’m an egg
      But I think I look fine!
      OR
      Opal Oval is my name.
      The circle and I are not the same.
      The circle is round, as round can be.
      I am shaped like an egg as you can see

      Harry Heart is my name
      The shape I make is my fame
      With a point on the bottom and two humps on top
      When it comes to love I just can’t stop!

      Website used: http://www.kinderthemes.com/index.html

      This poem is great for young students from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten. It gives a creative way to look at shapes and I think it will help students understand and enjoy learning about shapes. This is a simple rhyming type of poem. This poem appeals to young students, because the shapes all have names and it is unique in describing the shapes. The poem is meant to help children learn their shapes while also learning about poems. This poem does not have a specific author and there are many poems like it, but they all have different names for the shapes and different ways of describing the shapes.

      Activity 1 (teach students)
      This activity will help students with their creativity. The students will each get shapes that are drawn out on paper and the students will cut out each shape. Then the students will use yarn, buttons, small puff balls, crayons, and glue to create their own shape characters. The shapes can have different names that were not in the poem and the students will get a chance to decide what each shape should look like. The students will be able to keep the shapes for future reference.
      Materials: 7 shapes that are drawn out
      A bag of yarn, buttons, and puff balls
      Crayons
      Glue
      Scissors

      Activity 2 (closing activity)
      A good closing for this activity would be to read the poem to the students again and give the students a chance to hold up their own shapes when the shape is said. This will give the students a chance to go over the shapes and to show the other students what they have made. This activity will give students a chance to interact with each other and see all the different shape characters that were made.
      Materials: The shapes the students made
      The poem

      Activity 3 (test knowledge)
      This activity will help students with following directions and will also help students remember shapes in a fun new way. The teacher will read the poem, but leave out the name of the shapes, for example: instead of Sammy Square just say Sammy and then continue with the poem. The teacher will then give students a chance to figure out the shape that was described. After all the 7 shapes are said the teacher will then ask for the students to hold up their shapes.
      Materials: 7 flash cards (for students to draw on), Crayons

    • (my balloon animal)

      The Giraffe
      — by Don Mulford – Copyright 2000 —
      Giraffes are lucky they’re so tall;
      They make us humans feel so small.
      They simply look down on us all.
      Those elegant giraffes.

      They’ll eat the leaves from topmost bough,
      Which only lengthy necks allow,
      Then graze between their feet somehow.
      Those picturesque giraffes.

      But one thing we can not ignore;
      I’ve thought of this oft times before.
      How dreadful if their throats got sore!
      Those lengthy necked giraffes.

      Michael Trull

      2-16-10

      English 306W

      The poem I read was simply called “The Giraffe,” by Don Mulford, Copyright 2000. My theme for this project revolves around the giraffe, my favorite animal. This poem helps stretch the imagination of a child and can be a fun learning lesson.
      “Giraffes are lucky they’re so tall; they make us humans feel so small.” A child who knows what a giraffe what it must be like to imagine what the view would be like from twenty feet up. “They simply look down on us all. Those elegant giraffes.” This can be interpreted to their beauty and mystique as they look down at the people with such peace. Each stanza ends with the repetition of the word “giraffe” and a description of the giraffe.
      “They’ll eat the leaves from the topmost bough, which only lengthy necks allow.” In this sentence there is a word that maybe some children may not know the definition to. Bough means the topmost tree, more clearly, the main branch. Once this has been established we can then analyze what it actually means. The highest branch in the tree seems like they were made specifically for the giraffe because there is no taller mammal in the world. “Then graze between their feet somehow. Those picturesque giraffes.” We see once again a word that the average young child would not normally know, but it’s very close to the word “picture,” so that shouldn’t be too hard to understand. This sentence creates the image of a couple of giraffes moving along the savanna.
      “But one thing we cannot ignore; I’ve thought of this oft times before. How dreadful if their throats got sore! Those Lengthy necked giraffes.” This last stanza is what feels like a young mind must have thought up because I don’t think an adult would ever wonder something so outlandish.
      The overall tone of this poem is to inform. It also seems to be a peaceful tone because it describes a giraffe as a beautiful and peaceful animal.
      For my first activity I tied lots of information on small index cards and zip tied them to a couple of toy giraffes. This gets the class involved with playing and observing the different details on each giraffe. This gets them familiar with facts about them too, and it’s certain that there are children who have never even heard of a giraffe.
      For my second activity I arranged a bunch of letters in no particular order and I would call on someone to pick out the letters that would spell the word “giraffe.” It’s a guarantee that there are even adults who can’t spell the word. This can also be done by splitting the class into small groups to use team work to get the answer correct. G-I-R-A-F-F-E.
      My third activity is meant to be fun. I will make a balloon animal giraffe and let the small groups have a balloon animal each and let them make their own animal of they choose to do so.
      It doesn’t even have to be a giraffe just as long as they have fun with this activity.

  2. […] Children’s Lit […]

  3. […] quick video that I could post on my blog.   He did a lesson on giraffes that you can see  in the comments section of my Children’s Lit tab. (at the top of the […]

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