Poetry Folder

I have always enjoyed poetry that makes me laugh, or that makes me realize that I have felt a certain way before. You can use poetry in so many ways by showing descriptive imagery, conveying feelings by using compare contrast, or by writing about something as simple as a pencil. A lot of the poems that I chose are silly poems, are school-related, or animal related. Having the ability to find humor in things is always something that I look for, so I mostly chose humorous poems. Even the school-related poems poke fun of being in school, but I think that is something that students can relate to. While students know that being in school is important, I think that the idea of having to be somewhere every day can get annoying. Being able to find something about school that makes us laugh can make school not seem so bad. I think that another thing you can do with poetry is to introduce a new insight. I think that especially with poetry, you can throw in little twists at the end that make the poem more enjoyable. This also helps people to understand the other side of a perspective. The animal poems are cute and fun poems about animals that I think most people will like. The poems give you a clue into the character or perceived character of what it might be like to be that animals.
I took my poetry folder as an approach at mostly teaching children how to see new perspectives and looking at things differently. I think that the idea behind tolerance and acceptance of others is very important for children to learn. I hope that through the poems that I chose, I can help teach children how to appreciate those around them, as well as learn about themselves, and to understand the ways other people might feel.



Keep A Poem In Your Pocket
By Beatrice Schenk DeReginiers

I really felt like this was a great poem to start out my poetry folder with. It is a very simple poem, but it also really hits home with what a poem feels like. Many of us say poems or little rhymes to ourselves to help us count or go to sleep, and I think that this poem does a great job of explaining that. I think this would be a great poem to introduce poetry with in a classroom, as well as to introduce the concept of what poetry does.


I’m Staying Home From School Today
By Kenn Nesbitt

I thought that this was a fun poem for students, because everybody has a day where they just don’t feel like going to school. However, nobody thinks about that maybe their own teacher has days like that! I really liked the twist in this poem, because it adds humor. I would use this poem to teach different perspectives, and to introduce the concept of thinking about how other people might feel.


Homework
By Jane Yolen

As soon as I read this poem, I loved it right away. Who hasn’t found a million other things to do when you are supposed to be getting homework done? I chose this poem because of my instant attraction to it, as well as the fun-nature the tone has. This is another great poem that I think kids would be able to relate to, and to help kids realize what types of things they might do to avoid getting homework done.


Stupid Pencil Maker
By Shel Silverstein

This is also a great poem that is humorous, but makes a good point. How often do we only look at something one way and assume it is wrong? I could use this poem to show insight into looking at things differently. Obviously, the character in the poem is wrong because the way he describes the pencil is correct. However, the character never stops to think that he might be the wrong one. This could also gives students the skills they need for second-guessing themselves in some areas.


What I’ve Learned In School
By Robert Pottle

How many times do we do something that we think is right, but it breaks a rule? This poem actually reminded me of the character Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker, who is always told to “Pay attention!” Even though Clementine feels she is the only person who is actually paying attention to things. Just like the character in the poem feels that he is learning new things every day, it sounds like the teacher probably gets on to them a lot. I think that when students read this poem, they will identify all of the descriptions as things you shouldn’t do in class, but at the same time see that learning comes by experience with things, and not just simply from a text book.



Breath
By Janet Wong

I really loved Janet Wong’s whole Twist collection, however I chose this poem because you feel relaxed just by reading it. I also liked the simplicity of the poem being about breath, something most of us take for granted. Janet Wong makes you realize the beauty of breath, and what a gift it is. I think this would be a great way for students to look other things they take for granted. You could also use this poem as a simple relaxing exercise for the class.


Tee Vee
By Eve Merriam

I loved the creativity of this poem because how often do we let what’s on the television control what we do? Especially with children, I know from experience that if one of their favorite shows is on and you try to talk to them, they will completely ignore you. I think that sometimes we even do this as adults. While I am certainly not against watching TV, I think that it is important to realize the effects of watching too much TV. Maybe for an assignment after reading this poem children could think about things they could go out and do rather than sit in front of a TV all day.


Holding Hands
by Lenore M. Link

I have loved this poem since I was a little girl. It came out of a book that my dad has had since he was little, and that he shared with my brothers and I. I just love the imagery of this poem. You can see the elephants holding each others tails with their trunks and just playing so freely. I think this is a great way to teach students about different characteristics that we share with animals. Even though elephants don’t have hands, they have other ways of communicating and holding on to things by using their trunks. This would also be a good way to introduce other characteristics that elephants might have to help them to survive.


Captain Hook
By Shel Silverstein

This is just a fun poem that helps you see another side to a familiar character, Captain Hook from Peter Pan. While most of us see him as a mean pirate out to get Peter Pan, this poem helps the reader see some of the things that Captain Hook has to put up with! Maybe with a new understanding of Captain Hook, some of us may not judge him so harshly. I think this would be a good introduction into fairytales and into having students write their own versions. You could also introduce The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieska. Students could come up with their own poem or story about a character who might just be misunderstood.



The Crocodile
By Lewis Carroll

I love poems that make light of something that could also be seen as something dark. The imagery of a crocodile eating fish could be seen as something mean or violent, but in this poem shows the side of the crocodile “welcoming” fish into his mouth, as if he were a host. This would be a great way for students to realize that things are not always as they seem. Students could think of other ways, like in the Captain Hook poem, that they might be able to write about something that is unpleasant in a pleasant way.


The Hippopotamus
By Jack Prelutsky

I thought that this was also a great descriptive poem and gives you a great idea of what this hippopotamus must look like. You can see the hippo wading in the mud, pretty much doing his own thing, and just living a carefree life. This would be a good poem to introduce poems and have students write about their favorite animal and their characteristics.


Mice
By Rosie Fyleman

This is another poem about seeing the other side of things. Even though a lot of people don’t like mice, some people do. You could find this out with many other topics, such as worms, or lizards, like in Minn and Jake by Janet Wong. Students could write about the different things that they like or don’t like, and see that not everybody has to like or dislike the same things.


How Does A Dinosaur Say Good Night?
By Jane Yolen

This poem actually comes in the form of a book, but it still works as a poem. I thought you could use this book for children to show the different types of behaviors they might show when they have to do something that they don’t want to. The dinosaurs in the poem are basically acting out what children actually do at bedtime when they aren’t ready to go to sleep. I think that this is a good way to show that art shows true form, without coming straight and telling you. This would be a good way to introduce the concept of using satire and different objects or time periods to disguise what is actually meant.


A Lesson For Mama
By Sydney Dayre

What little child doesn’t feel this way? I can specifically remember thinking as a child that when I was a parent, I would never do half the mean things that my parents did. I just thought that this poem gave such a good perspective of how kids think. As parents and teachers we have to put ourselves in the shoes of our children, and although we may not need to buy our students candy every day, I think that it is important to remember what is going on with our students. This can also be applied to simply understand somebody else’s perspective or being in somebody else’s shoes.


Description
By Shel Silverstein

Not only is this poem humorous, but it gives the reader little hints about the different points of views that people have on certain issues. While you do not necessarily have to bring up God as the topic, it could be any type of opinion such as “My dog is better than yours.” As long as students have a justifiable reason, they could explain why they believe a certain way in a persuasive paper. I think that students will also like the idea that the narrator has a secret that he decides not to share with the rest of the class. I think that it is important for kids to have little secrets that they realize are not necessarily meant to be shared but kept private.


Wastebasket Brother
By Shel Silverstein

I think that in a classroom, most of your students will have siblings that are tough to get along with. Poems about sibling rivalry are always fun and the students enjoy them because they can relate. Another idea you can introduce with this poem is the idea of putting your wishes down on paper, without making them actually happen. Sometimes we wish that our brother could be deported to South Africa, but that doesn’t always mean it will happen. Students could write about something they wish they could do, like chew gum in class or be able to walk upside down.


Cat/Cow
By Janet Wong

Just like the Breath poem, I love the way Janet Wong can describe an action so perfectly, and also explain the motions as well. Cat/Cow is a move done in Yoga, but I would have never thought to think “why does the cat want to turn into a cow?” And maybe this is an actual reason-behind-the-pose, but that is something I would have to research. However, for this poem I think that it would be neat to have students think of reasons why something is the way it is. Like why is the grass green? Students could make up their own sort of fable to explain the reason behind something.


Mountain/Volcano
By Janet Wong

While this is another one of Janet Wong’s yoga poems, it is one of the few “nature” poems that I like. Typically I try to stay away from nature poems because they are just too cheesy for me, but I like how Janet Wong incorporated the yoga movements into the actual features of a Mountain and Volcano. For this poem, students could create a poem about a natural feature, such as a rock or mountain, and give it humanistic features like in Wong’s poem. I think this would be a good way to teach about different ways to write, such as having magical creatures. Another good example of this is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, or Grandmother Willow in the Disney version of Pocahontas.


Jessica Jane
By May Justice

First of all, I love this poem because it is about me! Well, or at least my name is in it, and I like to cook. Except I don’t cook mud pies, at least not anymore. I was thinking that with this poem I could introduce writing poems that incorporate our names with things that we like to do.


Too Manny Daves
By Dr. Seuss

I love finding new, obscure poems by Dr. Seuss that I have never heard of! I also really liked this poem because you can just imagine the chaos of all these little boys with the same names, as if they were clones, just running around! Plus, coming from a family of five children, I can only imagine that my own mother felt this way sometimes. Maybe after reading this poem children could write about poems about their own families. While most of the children won’t have 23 siblings, or even 5, they could incorporate the names of the people in their family and the things that describe them.