Poetry Friday!

This week I have chosen to share a poem by Bobbi Katz from a poetry book that I recently added to my collection: Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems edited by Georgia Heard. Earlier this week, I selected this poem to read with my "tutee" and we decided the main character in our book would love it too. We are reading Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli with illustrations by Matt Phelan. It is a lovely little book written in verse, narrated by a young girl who likes to write poems and loves learning about space.

Choosing a poem or other piece of text and saying, "Hey, I saw this and it reminded me of you" or "I thought you would like this," is something we naturally do as lovers of the written word. What a fun literacy connection to extend this idea to book characters that we get to know! Students could clip poems inside the book cover or perhaps some sort of bulletin board display could be created...hmmm... it's that time of year when the wheels are turning with ideas! Happy belated Poetry Friday! Visit Zsofia at The Stenhouse Blog for the Poetry Friday roundup this week.

“Things to do if you are the Sun”
By Bobbi Katz
Let planets loop around you.
Be Earth’s very own star.
Keep things warm enough for people.
Keep things cool enough for penguins.
Slip away to end the day.
Light the moon at night.
Let people and animals sleep.
And at the crack of dawn,
wake up the world!

Copyright c 2007 by Bobbi Katz.