KidSpace Blog

Posts Tagged ‘poems

Got the FCAT Blues?

Here is a school poem to lift your spirits during this FCAT week!

The Very Best Feeling
~by Betsy Franko

There’s excited,
delighted,

scared,
and mad.

There’s happy,
embarrased,

surprised,
and sad.

But the very best feeling
that we’ve ever had,

the one that we have every day,

is the feeling we get
when the final bell rings,
and there’s nothing to do but just PLAY!

From the book:

Here is a Spring-y poem for young and old!

The alliteration and repetition build important early literacy skills such as phonetic awareness and vocabulary. Read this to your babies, or help your older children recite this playful poem!

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Nibble Nibble Nibble
~By Margaret Wise Brown

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Nibble Nibble Nibble
Goes the mouse in my heart
Nibble Nibble Nibble
Goes the mouse in my heart
Nibble Nibble Nibble
Goes the mouse in my heart
And the mouse in my heart is
You.
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Lippity Lippity Clip
Goes the rabbit in my heart
Lippity Lippity Clip
Goes the rabbit in my heart
Lippity Lippity Clip
Goes the rabbit in my heart
And the rabbit in my heart is
You.

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Flippity Flippity Flop
Goes the fish in my heart
Flippity Flippity Flop
Goes the fish in my heart
Flippity Flippity Flop
Goes the fish in my heart
And the fish in my heart is
You.
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Biff Bang Bang
Goes the hammer in my heart
Biff Bang Bang
Goes the hammer in my heart
Biff Bang Bang
Goes the hammer in my heart
And the hammer in my heart is
You.
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Drum Drum Drum
Goes the drum in my heart
Drum Drum Drum
Goes the drum in my heart
Drum Drum Drum
Goes the drum in my heart
And the drum in my heart is
You.

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Softly now beats the beat of my heart
Softly now beats the beat of my heart
Softly now beats the beat of my heart
All for the love of you.

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From the book Nibble Nibble by Margaret Wise Brown. Paintings by Wendell Minor. HarperCollins. 1987.

Check this out to view the beautiful illustrations!

A coworker of mine recently shared this website full of silly poetry for kids! It is interactive, allowing you to rate the poem on the Giggle Meter. Be sure to check out the Poetry Class, Poetry Theater, Word Games and more!

Giggle Poetry

To get you in the mood, here is a silly poem from one of our favorite poets, Jack Prelutsky.

Backwards Forwards Silly Rhyme

I thguoht d’I etirw ekil siht yadot
esuaceb ti demees ekil nuf,
ev’I tog on rehto nosaer,
tub I ylerus t’nod deen eno.

tI ylbaborp sesufnoc uoy
eht tsrif emit taht uoy ees
eht sdrow lla nettirw sdrawkcab…
ti osla delzzup em.

tuB won ev’I nettog desu ot ti,
dna ylerus os evah uoy,
dna ev’I a llams noicipsus
taht uoy tsuj thgim yrt ti oot.

From the  book, a PIZZA the size of the SUN by Jack Prelutsky. Drawings by James Stevenson. Greenwillow Books, New York. 1994.

We all know and love Eric Carle’s picture books like The Very Busy Spider and The Very Hungry Catipillar. Did you know he has published and illustrated dozens of other titles? Included is an illustrated collection of poetry by various authors titled, Eric Carle’s DRAGONS DRAGONS & other creatures that never were.  

This is a beautiful book where mythological creatures are brought to life through images only Eric Carle could create. Please enjoy this selection, and check out the book for more! And check back this week for more on Eric Carle.

Sphinx
By Deborah Chandra

As the sun
Is going down,
And shadows mix
With yellow sand,
He rises slowly,
Stretches, stands,
Wades into the Nile to wash
Mummy-dust and sand fleas off -
Licks heavy paws
With heavy tongue
Until the cool night air is gone.
While on Egyptian earth
He drops dry purrs,
Ground out like powdered rock.

The cooler weather gives the perfect feeling for Fall!

Here is a poem in the form of a recipe to help us say hello to Autumn!

Encourage your kids to create their own recipes for Autumn, November, cool weather, etc. If you feel like sharing, please to post them to this blog!

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RECIPE

FOR WRITING AN

AUTUMN POEM

One teaspoon wild geese.
One tablespoon red kite.
One cup wild song.
One pint trembling leaves.
One quart darkening sky.
One gallon north wind.

 

~From Falling Down The Page: A Book of List Poems. Edited by Georgia Heard

Happy International Literacy Day!

Although, here at the library, every day is a Literacy Day!

This Wednesday at 6pm will be our Families Reading Together event! We will have a special reading of I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. and a composting program for kids!

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In celebration of the Earth and Literacy, here are a few selections from the book, Earth Songs by Myra Cohn Livingston

 

Little O, small earth, spinning in space,

face covered with dizzy clouds, racing,

chasing sunlight through the Milky Way,

say your secr3ets, small earth, little O,

know where you lead, I follow. I go.

 

Patched together

With land and sea,

I am earth,

Great earth.

Come with me!

Tundra covers me; swamps sodden, dank,

Banked with moss, a soft, spongy morass.

Grassy bogs blanket my soaked crust here.

sere, barren plains slush through marshed found

mounded with sedge on wet, withered ground.

 

 

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It’s Halloween

 by Jack Prelutsky

It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can’t be seen
On any other night.

Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
Grinning goblins fighting duels,
Werewolves rising from their tombs,
Witches on their magic brooms.

In masks and gowns
We haunt the street
And knock on doors
For trick or treat.

Tonight we are
The king and queen,
For oh tonight
It’s Halloween!

Each week, I post poems for parents and teachers to read and share with their kids. Poetry and rhyme are important tools for early literacy. Whether you read them to your children, with your children, or listen as they read, it is a fun way to build phonological and vocabulary skills. Here is a poem to read together, adult and child each taking a part to form the story. Have fun!


(Choose one side to read, with your child reading the other. The words in the middle are read together!)

The Telephone

Ding-a-ling!

Ting-a-ling!

(The telephone
Begins to ring.)

Hello!

Hello!

Hello!

Hello!

It’s me.

I know.
It’s me.

I know.
Are you in bed?

Not yet. Are you?

I’m almost there.

I’m almost,  too.

I’m in pajamas

I’m not yet.
I took a bath.
My hair’s still wet.

Did you do
The spelling list?

I did. Did you?
There’s one I missed.

I missed two.
I had to look.

Have you read
The chapter book?

I’ve just started
Chapter three.

I have, too.
So read with me!

Read together,
Not alone,
While we’re on
The telephone?

It won’t take long
To get it done.

I’ll get my book.
It sounds like fun.

Back and forth
Until we’re through.

You read to me!
I’ll read to you!

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~From You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Togeterh. By Mary Ann Hoberman. Illustrated by Michael Emberley

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Check out other read-togethers!

September is

Roald Dahl month!

This week I will be posting all about this wonderful author and his works.
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Many of Roald Dahl’s stories contain tidbits of song and poetry. These witty and humorous writings add to the rhythm and visualization of the story. The best part is that they can be enoyed by children and adults!

The following is from James and the Giant Peach. The Centipede starts off their adventure declaring:

“We may see a Creature with forty-nine heads

Who lives in the desolate snow,

And whenever he catches a cold (which he dreads)

He has forty-nine noses to blow.

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“We may see the venomous Pink-Spotted Scrunch

Who can chew up a man with one bite.

It likes to eat five of them roasted for lunch

And eighteen for its supper at night.

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“We may see a Dragon, and nobody knows

That we won’t see a Unicorn there.

We may see a terrible Monster with toes

Growing out of the tufts of his hair.

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“We may see the sweet little Biddy-Bright Hen

So playful, so kind and well-bred;

And such beautiful eggs! You just boil them and then

They explode and they blow off your head.

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“A Gnu and Gnocerous surely you’ll see

And that gnormous and gnorrible Gnat

Whose sting when it stings you goes in at the knee

And comes out through the top of your hat.

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“We may even get lost and be frozen by frost.

We may die in an earthquake or tremor.

Or nastier still, we may even be tossed

On the horns of a furious Dilemma.

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“But who cares! Let us go from this horrible hill!

Let us roll! Let us bowl! Let us plunge!

Let’s go rolling and bowling and spinning until

We’re away from old Spiker and Sponge!”

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To check out James and the Giant Peach or other Roald Dahl Books click here!

Stay tuned for more Roald Dahl this week!

Can You Haiku?

Haiku is one of the simplest, yet most popular forms of poetry in the world. Originating in Japan, one of the most famous haiku poets is Mastsuo Bacho (1644-1694). Here is one of his poems:

old pond-

frog jumps in

sound of the water

As I said, haiku is popular still today! Here is a modern example of the poetry:

Nose out the window,

ears flapping, hair pushed straight back.

Adventures in smell.

From Dogku by Andrew Clements

One of the best things about Haiku is that anybody can create a poem! Here is the pattern:

1st line = 5 syllables

2nd line = 7 syllables

3rd line = 5 syllables

That’s it! So, take a breath, notice a moment, scene, or feeling around you and put it into words.

Make up a haiku poem and post it as a comment to the blog! I will then post all of the submissions next week. Come into the library and make a haik at FunSpace Monday-Thursday 3:30-5:30!

Checkout these books for more haiku poetry.

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Haiku for little ears

On of my favorite picture books tells a story of Wabi Sabi, a cat who lives in Japan and goes on a journey to learn the meaning of her name. Haiku poetry is woven into the tale with beautiful artwork to complement the story.

Check it out today!


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