Besides the usual vocabulary lesson that Nancy gives, she teaches basics about poetry like what a couplet is. We've gotten this from the library multiple times so when I saw it on our most recent Scholastic book list, I bought it.
We took a survey of our family and a few neighbors about what everyone's favorite poem is (Nancy takes a survey, so Sunny wanted to do one too). Dad wins for the shortest.
ODE TO MY GOLDFISH
Oh wet pet!
Oh wet pet!
We read a lot of Shel Silverstein - our entire family finds his poems very amusing. I got a book of Robert Frost poems but they didn't really catch on with our girls. Maybe next year? I had some other writing ideas that didn't happen either - they're definitely beyond the grasp of our kids right now. They can read pretty much anything but writing is entirely a different ballgame. On file for later:
1. Using the title of a poem by a famous writer (and without reading it), write your own poem. Then read the original and everyone's new poems to hear all the different ideas that could come from the same title.
2. Decide a rhyme meter before writing a poem to see what you can do with it.
3. Make sure to write as many kinds of poems as you can identify - acrostic, haiku, limerick, sonnet, etc.
Thinking about this reminds me that my brothers and I wrote a play when we were in high school and the entire thing was a poem about a poetry contest, and smaller poems (like limericks) were embedded in the larger whole.
PAUSE
I just went and looked in an old file, and yes indeed! I still have it! Oh, wow. Along with a bunch of other poems he wrote while in high school ... I'd totally forgotten about all of these. Yes, ESP, I have Pablo the Goat-Cart Driver. I'm so reading that for tonight's bedtime story.
And in closing, for your edification and enlightenment in this Month of Poetry, I offer this poem by my brother ESP written between 1990 and 1992.
THE SEARCH FOR UNCLE FRED
Where are shoes for my poor feet?
Where's a place to lay my head?
Where is there some food to eat?
Where's my goofy Uncle Fred?
Can I go outside and play?
May I frolic on the lawn?
Where is Uncle Fred, and say,
Why has he been there so long?
Why are pizzas always round?
Why does cheese sometimes turn gray?
When will Uncle Fred be found?
Will he come for Groundhog Day?
Will he come by ship or plane?
Will he pedal, drive, or row?
When he arrives will there be rain?
Or sleet? Or hail? Or ice and snow?
Where is he? The hour is late.
Do you think he's lost at sea?
Or met some other awful fate?
Oh Uncle Fred! Where could he be?
I fear he may be hurt or dead!
Wait! What's that sound outside the door?
Oh my heck, it's Uncle Fred!
He took FOREVER at the store!
Where are shoes for my poor feet?
Where's a place to lay my head?
Where is there some food to eat?
Where's my goofy Uncle Fred?
Can I go outside and play?
May I frolic on the lawn?
Where is Uncle Fred, and say,
Why has he been there so long?
Why are pizzas always round?
Why does cheese sometimes turn gray?
When will Uncle Fred be found?
Will he come for Groundhog Day?
Will he come by ship or plane?
Will he pedal, drive, or row?
When he arrives will there be rain?
Or sleet? Or hail? Or ice and snow?
Where is he? The hour is late.
Do you think he's lost at sea?
Or met some other awful fate?
Oh Uncle Fred! Where could he be?
I fear he may be hurt or dead!
Wait! What's that sound outside the door?
Oh my heck, it's Uncle Fred!
He took FOREVER at the store!
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