Category: Special Days

Poetry Month Day 10

This poem is written to address parents. It is also my wish for you all right now. Poetry has the amazing ability to hold us in a moment and give us the space we need to breathe and see our world a little more clearly.

“Do not ask your children to strive” by William Martin

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

Poetry Month Day 9

Today I want to share a famous poem with you. “Jabberwocky” is by Lewis Carroll and was published in 1872 in Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Try to read this one out loud. Can you pronounce all the made-up words? Can you figure out the general meaning of all those nonsense words?

Jabberwocky

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.


“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Poetry Month Day 8

Today we are going to do a fun poetry exercise. We’re not actually going to write poetry (although you TOTALLY can… and I’d love to read it!) but it’s a way to get our wordy brains warmed up.

Ready?

First, think about your 5 senses:

  • sight
  • smell
  • sound
  • touch
  • taste

Grab a piece of paper and divide it into three columns and title the columns “Good,” “Neurtal,” and “Bad.” Next, label a row for each sense. Like this:

Good Neutral Bad
Sight
Smell
Sound
Touch
Taste

Now turn on your best word imagination! Try to think of an example of a word to fit in each category.
For primary students: try to think of a thing (noun) to go in each box.
For intermediate students: try to think of a, adjective to go in each box.

This exercise helps us develop our skills in connotation and perspective. When we write poetry we want to be able to express exactly what we feel or observe Often it’s not good enough to say “The smell of the supper my sister was cooking reached my nose.” Maybe you’d rather say “The aroma of the supper my sister was cooking reached my nose” OR “The stench of the supper my sister was cooking reached my nose.” Those conjure very different feelings and assumptions!

Have fun!

Poetry Month Day 7

Picture book stories in rhyme!

There are SO many picture books in rhyme. It’s even a subject heading we use to label books in the library catalog.

You can find all sorts of stories told in rhyme:

Fun and inspirational stories:Click for more information on this title

“Ada was busy that first day of spring,
testing the sounds that make mockingbirds sing,
when a horrible stench whacked her right in the nose–
a pungent aroma that curled up her toes
“Zowie” said Ada, which got her to thinking:
“What is the source of that horrible sticking?”
“How does a noes know there’s something to smell?”
“And does it still stink if there’s no noes to tell?”
…”

Click for more information on this title True stories

 

(oh dear! I couldn’t find an excerpt!)

 

 

New words to songs you may already know Click for more information on this title

 

“A dab of blue here,
a splash of red there,
a goopy smear of green . . . everywhere!”

 

 

Click for more information on this title Classics

“In an old house in Paris
that was covered with vines
lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.

In two straight lines they broke their bread
and brushed their teeth
and went to bed”

 

 

 

And, of course, books en français Click for more information on this title

“Il grossira et vous, vous maigrirez
n’invite JAMAIS un dinosaure à souper.”

 

 

 

 

 

Stories in rhyme make great read-alouds. Do you have a favourite story written in rhyme? I hope this inspires you to pull out an old familiar book and sit with it again.

Poetry Month Day 6

Some people say that they never read or listen to poetry but listen and sing to music all the time. Guess what? That’s poetry! The lyrics (words) in songs are poems!

These days it’s more important than ever to find music that give us comfort. Music plays an important role in how our thoughts and feelings are regulated (more on that next month!) For now, let’s explore some fun poems/songs and singer-songwriter/poets.

Today I would like to introduce you to Bobs & Lolo (in case you don’t already know of them.) They are from BC and have been recording music and performing in live shows for many years. Their first album, Sea Notes, is my absolute favourite.

I thought that today we should listen to a happy, springtime song. This is from their most recent album (which garnered a Juno nomination), Blue Skies. It’s the title track.

Click the link to listen to the song.

Blue Skies by Bobs & LoLo

“Blue Skies”

A smile from a friend
When you’re feeling sad
A rainbow surprise
When the weather’s bad
A light in the dark
When you’re feeling scared
A kind helping hand
When you’re unprepared

Those feel like
Blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you
Makes you feel alive
In those blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you
When you see those blue skies

A warm soft blanket
When you’re feeling chilled
A comforting hug
When the milk gets spilled
A nap in the sun
When the day is long
A sweet melody
In a sad song

Those feel like
Blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you –
Makes you feel alive
In those blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you
When you see those blue skies
When you see those blue skies

The sun is always shining
Even when the clouds are in the way
Sometimes it’s hard to see it
But it’s shining every day
No matter the weather
There’s blue skies up above
Filled with love

For you it’s
Blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you
Makes you feel alive
In those blue skies
Open up your eyes
Let the sun shine over you
When you see those blue skies

Poetry Month Day 5

Avis Harley is a wonderful poet. Fun fact: she used to teach at UBC!  Every year I use her poems for something during Poetry Month. We have a few of her books in our library; you can see the covers here.

Avis Harley write all sorts of poems. A great way to stretch yourself in a playful way is to find a type of poem and try to write your own, using the same formula. You may have heard of some of the famous poetry structures, like sonnets or haiku, but have you heard of a list poem?

A list poem takes the deceptively simple everyday form of a list in order to describe something in detail. It can be rhymed or unrhymed. The reason it is deceptively simple is because a good list poem not only find just the right word or words to describe the subject, but those descriptions are all balanced in some way. They fit together and … just sound right.

Here is a list poem by Avis Harley called “Slug File”:

“Slug File”

Home address:
“Shady Lawn”

Working Hours:
dusk ’til dawn

Hobbies/Sports:
likes to climb

Special Skills:
making slime

Occupation:
midnight thief

Favorite Food:
salad leaf

Color Choice:
veggie green

Height and Weight:
long and lean

Next of Kin:
Mollusc clan

Appetite:
gargantuan

by Avis Harley

 

If you want to try your own, post it in the comments, or email it to Mme Brogan!

Poetry Month Day 4

I love love love (good) spoken word poetry! I love the energy; the slowing down and speeding up and the pauses that let an important word or sentence ring in your ears. It’s a performance that can be quite physical.

Check out Sarah Kay performing her piece “Hands”

(I tried to embed the video but something went wrong)

What do you think? Could you do something like this? She writes the pieces she performs but you can practice with poems from a book. It’s interesting to figure out which poems are good “performance” poems, and which are better for more of a “storytelling” read aloud.

Have fun! Talk some poetry today!
(I would LOVE to hear some audio of you reading/performing some cool poems.)

Poetry Month Day 3

Today I invite you to try writing your own poem.

We are going to write a Colour Sense poem:

First, choose a colour.

This poem will have five lines. Your colour will be the first word in each line.

Each line will describe a different thing that you associate with your colour. Use all five of your senses, one on each line.

Here is an example:

GREEN
Green looks like a swaying tree,
Green sounds like a croaking frog,
Green smells like freshly mown grass,
Green tastes like peppermint ice-cream,
Green feels like spring.

 

Give it a try. The only limit is your imagination.  I would love to read your poems. You can comment on this post or email it to me at cbroganATvsbDOTbcDOTca.

 

April is Poetry Month!

Poetry Month is here again! Yippee!!!

Just like Kindness Month in February, I will be making (almost) daily posts for Poetry Month. I will post poems I think you’ll enjoy, as well as poetry “starts” as invitations to write your own poetry.

The first one is a great way to get started. It’s by Eve Merriam, who was an american writer and university lecturer.

How to Eat a Poem

Don’t be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.