Good Reading Means Poetry Too

  
      It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  is a kidlit meme hosted by Jen and Kellee at Teach.Mentor.Texts.  Come visit!  And also visit Sheila at Book Journeys to find reviews of all kinds of books for adults and for children.  

            Don't forget the hashtag #IMWAYR 

                       A poem begins with a lump in the throat.  Robert Frost

          It’s Poetry Month, and here at Teacher Dance on Mondays each week, I share the books I’ve read in the past week.  This month, I’ll also share some poetry anthologies for children that I am enjoying.

           Don't forget to read the Poetry Links on the page above!

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core – compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong

          It’s not easy writing about an anthology, and even harder to write about a very good one.  It’s difficult to choose what to share from such marvelous material.  Plus, as I first scanned the book, I saw many familiar names of those who write blogs, especially connecting through Poetry Friday, and I want to tell about them all!  I was thrilled to win my copy because I have the one for younger students, and have shared it and shared it with those I work with, plus used it myself-often. 

           If you’re not familiar with these two anthologies, Sylvia and Janet have chosen poems of interest to 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade students, and the facing page is “Take Five”, full of great tips for teaching, how to make the poem come alive, how to connect and write other poetry, and often, further resources, like other anthologies that share the particular poem’s characteristics.  The opening concerns the Common Core and explains how the book can be assessed for them, plus gives more valuable information.   Poems I know I’ll use already are First Week of School by Janet Wong, Names by Julie Larios, and a poem titled Cousins by Charles Waters.  Renee La Tulippe writes about These Hands and Laura Purdie Salas has a poem titled Her Room.  As I said, hard to choose.  There are more resources at the back of the book, with lists of other poetry books, poetry terms, e-resources, and an index.  There are serious poems as well as poems all about school, and ones full of word play and whimsy, terrific mentor texts, one after one. 

               How could one resist the following lines from Your Appendix Is A Mystery, by Allan Wolf:  “Where large and small intestines meet/the sly appendix lurks.”  The anthology is a resource that will give teachers and students so much pleasure for a long, long time! 

Rules – by Cynthia Lord

It was wonderful to read this book again, and with a great group, this time of all young girls.  They had so much to contribute about their experiences with handicapped people, shared new learning, and talked a lot about friendship.  I hope everyone takes time to read this book and to share it with students. 

Otto, The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear – written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer

The adventures of a German-born teddy bear who is separated from his Jewish owner in the time of the Nazis persecution of the Jewish people, and others.  It chronicles the places where the teddy bear is born, and the subsequent owners, waiting 50 years for a wonderful reunion.  The illustrations enhance the story in its detail.  Some of the information I gathered said this story is partly autobiographical.  It’s quite a sweet ending, and a nice introduction to the Holocaust for younger students. Although, it will need some preparation for the group.

 NEXT:  Still The False Prince, but I am progressing!  I also have a pile of picture books from the library, many that have been reviewed by all the blogs read!