Hound Dog Adventures

Unpopular Rex a video by Amy Merrill1 on Flickr.

Welcome to a new kind of "Poetry Break!" My "Poetry Breaks!" always consist of me popping into classrooms to share poems with students and their teachers. For this "Poetry Break!" I created a video (after about 437,000 re-takes, I finally called it a night and used this one! Oh, and I also had several technical difficulties! So please bear with my novice video-making skills!).

The idea began with Mrs. Connie Buchinsky, a first grade teacher at my school. She asked me for poem ideas to utilize in a lesson. We chatted about poems, poetry books, and her lesson. After she took home J. Patrick Lewis' book National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, she showed me the poem she had chosen. I loved it and proceeded to tell her a story about a personal connection that I made to the poem. Connie loved it and told me I needed to make a video of what I had just told her. She wanted to be able to incorporate the story and technology into her lesson.

So, I figured I'd try a virtual "Poetry Break!" This way, I can share more poetry love with more students, more often, and allow students to access the poems whenever they wish! (I feel it is so important to hear poetry read and recited aloud ~ so many, many benefits to this! This could be a whole post itself!).

I will attempt to post a "Poetry Break!" video a couple of times a month. I think it will be a fun and worthwhile adventure!

If you'd like to read my post about Hug Your Hound Day, click  here!

Thanks to Connie, for inspiring me to create "Poetry Break!" videos!

Poem in Your Pocket Day Celebration

Today's Poetry Friday Round Up is being hosted by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.  Make sure you visit her blog to find out about the poetry treasures that she is sharing 

I celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day at my school with many students and staff.  I began by creating a display of poetry books with a Poem in Your Pocket bulletin board (when we returned from spring break).  Later I added a "Poet~Tree" bulletin board (a bulletin board tree display that features many poets' pictures on leaves).  Of course, I haven't yet thought to take a picture of it!  I do plan to do so and post it soon, though!

Next, I began telling students and teachers about the celebration (I also celebrated last year, so some of my students remembered it!) during my "Poetry Breaks!" and lessons (push in teaching times as well as my small reading groups).  

The day before Poem in Your Pocket Day, I gave my small reading groups a poem for them to put in their pocket.  

Finally, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, I put Bobbi Katz's "Pocket Poem" in my pocket to read to as many students and teachers that I saw!  Read the poem at Bobbi Katz's website ~ click here.  

As an extra special treat, I was able to give my students a beautiful poem bookmark!  The bookmarks were a gift from Amy Ludwig Vanderwater!  She sent bookmarks with a lovely poem from her exquisite new book, Forest Has a Song.   

Thank you, Amy!!!!

 

One of my students didn't have a pocket for her poem, so we created one with a self-stick library pocket!

Poem in your pocket

 

 A first grade student had a poem in her pocket to read to me today!  She pulled this little note out to read her poem.  She said her "nanny helped her with it."  I love it! 

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.