Until I Saw the Sea

INTRODUCTION

In concluding your weather unit ask your Kindergarten students what they have learned about wild wind and how wind affects weather. On a chart board, list what the students say and discuss. Prompt students to use wind vocabulary such as; lull, wind chill, gusts, breeze and specific types of wild wind weather like tornado, blizzard, hurricane, cyclone and storm.

Before reading the peom, ask students to relaxe and think about what happens on this windy day at the beach...

Until I Saw The Sea

Until I saw the sea

I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so.

I never knew

that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue.

Nor

did I know before
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore.
Lilian Moore



EXTENSION
Ask specific questions about the poem after reading it three times, such as;
How does wind wrinkle water? What is a shore? What does wind do to water at the beach?
How does the sea breathe in and out? Does the author really think that the shore breathes like we do?

Introduce a month long classroom project: Wind Chart
select a student each day to chart the wind after coming in from recess

Art Project: Wind Chime

Brown Angels

Myers, Walter Dean. 1996. Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse. New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 9780152046392

Walter Dean Myers pulled photographs from his own personal collection and wrote poems to them. His love for children and African American history inspired this children's poetry book for children of all times to read and enjoy. The photographs used in the book reflect the lives of children during the turn of the centry, which compliment the "old time" language used in some of the poems. Blossoms, Jolly being a mood and the name of a child and the "giggle" that Jeanie has are examples of figurative language and Myers using metaphoric phrases to add more depth to the poems.

I don't think that children would be attracted to the book without it being presented by a teacher or parent first. Some of words may be somewhat difficult for beginning readers to read on their own while other poems would be easier because of the repetition and rhym. But because every child likes to see other children in photographs who either resemble them or are the same age as them, this book would be an album of pictures for all children. The children's clothing, picture settings, facial expressions and props can all attribute to quality discussion that describe the lives of the children and what their interests and hobbies may have been.

The classic pictures make this book timeless and universal. Children throughout the next century can look at these historic photographs to get visual evidence of what "back in the day" means. Altering tone of the poems allow the readers and the audience to adjust them to being silly or serious.

Myers at age 11

Connecting to classroom curriculum

Brown Angels celebrates the life and beauty of African American children. This book can be used for young audiences, children 5 - 10, for African American history, American history and for discussing how children played, learned and lived during the turn of the century. The poem Little Black Girl reminds me of songs for jumping rope or hand games for counting. Prayer, another poem in the book can be best matched with classroom discussions and curriculum regarding self esteem and appreciating one's value, talents and goals in life. Poems like Summer can be used for a seasonal theme and Love That Boy to introduce family traditions, traits and genetics.

Prayer

Shout my name to the angels
Sing my song to the skies
Anoint my ears with wisdom
Let beauty fill my eyes

For I am dark and precious
And have such gifts to give
Sweet joy, sweet love,
Sweet laughter
Sweet wondrous life to live

Pretty Little Black Girl

Pretty little black girl
Sweet as you can be
Wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle
One, two, three

Pretty little tan girl
She knows all the tricks
Wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle
Four, five, six

Pretty little brown girl
You know you sing so fine
Wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle
Seven, eight, nine

Pretty little coffee girl
She knows how to win
Wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle
We’ve reached ten!

Reviews


"Myers' collection of photographs, though, is extraordinary: snapshots and posed studio portraits, capturing a great range of personalities and moods in the children's expressions."
- Carolyn Phelan, Booklist


"A beautiful, unique album."
-The Horn Book





Similar books to share

Cruch, Sharon. Love That Dog ISBN 9780064409599

Sidman, Joyce. Pamela Zagerenski (ill.) This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness ISBN 8780618616800

Zoo's Who

Florian, Douglas. 2005. ZOO'S WHO: POEMS AND PAINTINGS. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. ISBN 9780152046392

Douglas Florian's Zoo's Who is amazingly unique in its appeal to young listeners. Florian's creative use of rhyming words, creative print and made up words with short and quick lines gives a young audience something to remember about each animal. The special effects of the words like "eensie-weensie" and "tennsie" getting smaller and smaller in print and then the words in the poem "The Terns" written in the shape of a square and the S shape lettering of the word snake show ingenious innovation for a poet giving the reader freedom of reciting his work as they please. This book of poems is packed with word play incorporated with comical delight.
Florian's inspiration for compiling this book of zoo animal poems is The Ant.



THE ANT



I wANTed to write

A poem on and ANT.

I'm frANTic -

I cAN'T.



There is too much to say about the paintings. Not only is the medium a mixed array of things you wouldn't dream of using to illustrate, but they are exotically prepared and presented to compliment the poems. My favorite of all is the sheep who places his front hoof over his lips to imply a quiet place to sleep. I would love to hear a group discussion amongst students after reading each of the poems. The rattle in the bush baby's hand, subliminal messages on each painting and the lady bug's (or men bug's) dotted wings are excellent ways to see how well the student's pay attention to artistic details while using both audio and visual learning preferences at the same time. Florian gives critics a final note to mention by placing the page numbers in the center of the page.



Teachers and parents can use this book on visit to the zoo. Writing the poems on index cards or bravely taking the actual copy of the book with you makes reciting poems and learning as fun as just searching for each animal in their natural habitat.

My poetic response to Who's Zoo...

Use your own tone

dramatic or INtense.

Start out slooooooooooooow,

then left in suSPense!

Review Excerpts:

"overall effect is quick and primitive, sometimes puzzling. While not the strongest work in this series, both the verse and the art might find diverse use by imaginative classroom teachers."

-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston, - School Library Journal

"For gales of laughter, read the poems aloud; for chuckles of amusement, linger over the pictures-either way, Florian demonstrates as well as any writer or artist ever has the simple joys of playing with language and imagery."

-Kirkus Review

Other likable books by Douglas Florian:

Bing Bang Boing

Comets, Stars the Moon & Mars: Space Poems & Paintings

Autumnblings

best feast: Poems

lizards, frogs, & polliwogs

Insectlopedia

Hopkins Anthology - Weather

Weather: Poems for All Seasons (I Can Read Book Series: Level 3)








Introduction Hopkins compiled poems by various artist who wrote about all of the seasons in the year. Creative, funny and descriptive poems that not only appeal to young readers, but also to those that love science and have an interest in mother nature's gifts to us - rain, sleet or snow and of course the fun days filled with warmth and sun kisses. A poem to match the science topic is a great entry for learning new vocabulary or factual points that describe a specific weather condition. When discussing the rain season, Spring, and what happens the next day or following rain with cooler weather conditions, a great opening poem would Grayness, by Charlotte Zolotow.

Grayness

Fog on the river

fog in the trees

gray mist moving

the golden leaves

Willow bending,dancelike,

long arms trailing,trancelike.

Gray morning

gray light

gray mist

gray night.

By Charlotte Zolotow

Extension After reading the poem, ask students if they have ever rode in the car with parents in foggy weather or walked outside and experience low fog. Have students create art work that reveals a picture in fog. Allow access to multiple types of medium, gray construction paper, paints, markers, map pencils and chalk to allow a variety of gray.

Connecting with the curriculum:

Beginning readers, Ages 6 - 9

morning calendar time, science, art, independent reading, journal writing

Weather: Poems for All Seasons contains a mixture of rhyming poems, funny poems, and poems that you can alter the tone to fit the mood or audience. The easy reads make this book perfect for the book center or in the resource center. The illustrations help give life to the words and assit the reader in seeing what the poet is feeling or thinking.





Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1995. Weather: Poems for All Seasons (I can Read Book Series: Level 3). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

I DREAM A WORLD

I dream a world where man


No other man will scorn,


Where love will bless the earth


And peace its paths adorn.


I dream a world where all


Will know sweet freedom's way,


Where greed no longer saps the soul


Nor avarice blights our day.


A world I dream where black or white,


Whatever race you be,


Will share the bounties of the earth


And every man is free,


Where wretchedness will hang its head


And joy, like a pearl,


Attends the need of all mankind -


Of such I dream, my world!







by Langston Hughes from Poetry for Young People


Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.


2006


ISBN-13: 978-1-4027-1845-8


ISBN-10: 1-4027-1845-4

My Backpack Weighs A Thousand Pounds

My backpack weighs a thousand pounds,

It's fatter than a cow!

I don't know how I carry it,

But do it anyhow.

It's filled with books and papers

That my teacher says I need -

She never lets me lighten it,

No matter how I plead.

Sometimes it tips me backward,

It's a wonder I don't fall.

Sometimes I have to stop and rest

And lean against a wall.

I tell you, from experience,

It's not a lot of fun

When you have to lug a backpack

That's about a half a ton.

from What A Day It Was At School by Jack Prelutsky and pictures by Doug Cushman

Greenwillow Books

An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers

2006

ISBN - 13: 978-0-06-082336-8

ISBN-10: 0-06-082336-4