Poem in your pocket

Poem in your pocket 

Another first grader had a poem in her pocket!  She was bursting with excitement ~ she couldn't wait to read me her poem!

 

Mother Goose Monday: Stick Puppets

My daughter, Sienna's Nursery Rhyme Stick Puppets (from Pre-K!)

Nursery rhyme stick puppets are fun, easy to create, and can be used in many different ways.

When my 13 year-old daughter, Sienna was in pre-k, we received these nursery rhyme puppets from her lovely teacher, Miss Danielle! At our parent-teacher conference, Miss Danielle gave us these puppets along with a printed copy of the accompanying rhymes. It was a fun, literacy-related tool that Sienna's teacher provided for her students to share in a language game with their families. What a fabulous way to encourage literacy in the home!

I have kept Sienna's nursery rhyme puppets for all of these years and now use them with my own students at school. They also make a great visual reminder of the nursery rhymes that we've already done together as well as a quick and easy method for students to self-select rhymes that they would like to revisit for recitation and dramatization!

Nursery rhyme stick puppets can be made a number of different ways but the easiest way to create them is by using die-cut shapes to represent a rhyme. Simply attach the shape to a craft stick. You can also write the rhyme title on the stick, if you wish. Store the puppets in a can, box, pocket chart, or wherever you find it most convenient. Select a rhyme to recite.

Thanks to Miss Danielle for these precious nursery rhyme stick puppets ~ they hold a special place in my heart!

Poetry is Priceless!

Diane from Random Noodling is hosting today's Poetry Friday Round-Up.  Make sure you click on over to her blog to read all of the wonderful poetry links that she has to offer.  

Here is conversation that I had with a first grade student today . . . 

"Mrs. Merrill . . . I think that when you grow up, you will want to be someone who writes poems for kids."  

Me: "You think so?"  

"Yes!  You love to share poems with all the kids and we are so lucky!  We love them!"

Enough said.

Poem Treasures

 Mrs. Merrill's "Poem Treasures."

I have a fairly large (and by the looks of it, it needs to be even larger), plastic bin in which I keep my poem treasures. Some may consider these items to be junk but I consider them to be my treasures. As the saying goes, "one person's trash is another person's treasure."

These do-dads have or may someday, be a prop to accompany a poem. Whenever I come across an alluring item that appeals to me or artifact that captivates my attention and sparks my "poetry self" to think of how it might go perfectly with a certain poem, I toss it into my poetry treasures chest.  

You never know when you might read (or write) just the right poem to go with one of the gems from the poetry treasure trove!

Any guesses and/or suggestions for poems to match any of my artifacts?  The plunger (brand new, by the way!) is one of my favorites!'

I love this poem by  Leleand B. Jacobs!  It seems to capture my feelings about my Poem Treasures. 

 Keepsakes

by Leland B. Jacobs

I keep bottle caps,

            I keep strings,

I keep keys and corks

And all such things.

When people say,

“What good are they?”

The answer’s hard to get

For just how I will use them all

I don’t know yet.

You've Got a Poem!

Mrs. Merrill's  "Golden Poetry Mailbox!"

Instead of hearing, "You've got mail!"  My students hear, "You've got a poem!"

A fun and unique way to introduce and present a new poem to your students is with a "golden mailbox!" A few years ago I purchased an inexpensive, ordinary, plastic mailbox at a home improvement store.  I then spray painted it with glittery gold paint.  The mailbox proudly sits in a prominent place in my classroom where everyone can see it.  When the flag is up, it means that we have a new poem to read!  It's so much fun to enter the classroom to see if "we've got a poem!" 

Do you have a unique or interesting way in which you share new poems with kids?  Please share your ideas! 

Mother Goose Monday ~ Poetry Beginnings!

It's Mother Goose Monday!

Sharing the nursery rhymes of Mother Goose is the perfect way to begin to introduce the joys of poetry to young children.  They are the perfect way to get little ones to begin to enjoy the the sounds of oral language.  Nursery rhymes have a way of sticking with you and young children will love to recall and recite them during their daily routines.  I'm sure that we can all recall learning the classic, "April Showers" rhyme that we will be reciting soon on a raining day or "Rain, Rain Go Away," as we put up our umbrellas and head out into the rainy days of spring.  

Help your children learn these and many other rhymes, so that they, too, can have little rhythms and rhymes come to mind as they go about their daily routines and have fond memories come to mind ~ memories that connect oral language to everything around them. 

"Rub-a-Dub-Dub" ~ great for bath time or hand-washing routines (I used to replace my children's names into the rhyme, instead of the three men).

"One, Two Buckle My Shoe" ~ perfect for getting dressed, shoe-tying, putting on coats, etc.

"I Eat My Peas with Honey" ~ one of my personal favorites for getting my girls to eat their peas!

"Peas Porridge Hot" ~ another fun one to recite while eating hot cereal or soup.

"Hot Cross Buns" ~ again, another food rhyme!

"Star Light, Star Bright" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" ~ bedtime routines.

"Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" ~ planting, gardens, flowers.

"Humpty Dumpty" ~ play with your food!  Recite the rhyme as you prepare to eat a hard boiled egg.

There are endless examples of ways in which we can connect rhymes and routines.  Please share some of your favorites by leaving a comment below or sending me a message or email!

Night Poetry

Night Poetry, a photo by Amy Merrill1 on Flickr.

Here are two more Book Spine poems that express my thoughts about the joys of poetry!