Let's do a poem

Teaching Pre K-8, Feb 1998 by Glazer, Susan Mandel

Having trouble reaching a child? Try a touch of poetry

I adore browsing through children's literature in bookstores. Usually, I find myself sitting on the floor reading wonderful poetry to children who just happen to be there.

The children often sway with the words, and eventually chant with me to the rhythmic language written and collected by good folks such as Lee Bennett Hopkins, Karla Kuskin, Nancy Larrick, Bobbye Goldstein, Aileen Fisher, Langston Hughes, David McCord, Bill Martin Jr, Maurice Sendak, and more. If I stop reading, children predictably say, "Do another one," and I do.

Why do kids want more? The language of poetry sings and dances, coercing us to get into it. I recall the time I discovered "All Night, All Day" from Ashley Bryan's beautifully illustrated anthology of the same name. I found myself singing the African-American spiritual with all of the drama and rhythm the poetic language triggered.

The New York City bookstore, where I spend lots of time, has a large, well-stocked children's section. Soft chairs, oversized, stuffed animals and tree-stump stools make the reading place exciting.

My reading spot on the floor helped me sway to the language. One five- and two eight-year-olds wiggled their way next to me. "All night, all day, Angels watching over me, my Lord," I sang, pointing to the words in Ashley's text. The younger child's body swayed to the words, pushing my body with hers. The older children pushed next to each other and swayed.

The children sang with me to the end of the song. "Let's do it again," said a child, and his remark was confined by the others.

Favorite lullabies. Infants, toddlers, preschoolers and primary graders sense the melody of poetry. They bounce their bodies, hum the tunes and try to say the words with you. Lullabies provide a lovely way to bring music and poetic language to the youngest child.

Personalizing a rhyme and singing "Hush-a-bye, Pat, on a tree top," lures youngsters to language. The rhyme, "Oh, dear, what can the matter be?" lends itself to "Oh, dear, what can the matter be? Sophia has a runny nose." This demonstrates how to use structure of text to create your own rhyme. Sophia's preschool teacher helped the three-year-old solve her problem, and sang:

A hanky, a han,ky, a hanky can wipe i

A hanky, a hanky, a hanky can wipe it

A hanky, cc hanky, a hanky can wipe it

A hanky can wipe Sophia's nose.

Question/answer books. As children grow, they also grow in understanding how to respond to the poetic structure of "question/answer" books. Bill Martin Jr.'s Brow Bear, Bron Bear, What Do You See? (Henry Holt, 1996) and Mercer Mayer's What Do You Do with a Kangaroo? (Scholastic, 1987) inspire children to create their own question/answer manuscripts.

Kaiko, who is eight, adores Nancy White Carlstrom's Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Kaiko's writing is evidence that Ms. Carlstrom's language structure is a favorite for creating her own. Kaiko uses this structure often. Instead of completing her daily schedule of "things to do," she wrote:

Mrs. O'Keefe, what work should I do?

What should I do in the morning?

I will read my journal at my desk

At my desk in the marKing.

I will write to you and tell you about,

About my sister who shouts and shouts.

I will write it at my desk,

At my desk in the morning.

Exotic animals. Tails, Claws, Fangs & Paws: An AlphaBeast Caper by Terry Small (Bantam, 1990) combines rhyme, interesting language and repetition. The text exposes children to exotic animals whose names begin with each letter of the alphabet. Lines like "J is for jacamar, junco, jackal, jackrabbit, jaguar and jackdaws that jackal" naturally push children to ask questions about each species. Rhyme, rhythm and repetition serve as motivating forces for children to investigate the scientific vocabulary.

Often poems suggest ideas. The mood, tone and some meanings frequently spill out of the language. Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg and T.S. Eliot joggle us to think. As we read these poems, we pause, hover over words and phrases and comment as we question meanings and visual images suggested by the language.

There are also poems for pantomime and for drama. Read "Little Miss Muffet" or Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter." Say, "Act it out as I read," and watch what happens.

Use background music as you read to create an even more powerful mood. You'll find that children will eventually search for poems to dramatize.

List-type style. Lee Bennett Hopkins' Good Books Good Times (HarperCollins, 1990) encouraged Brian to use the list-type style to create a poem about ants. He incorporated information learned in a class unit, Lee's poetic structure and observations of the class any farm and produced:

Ants eat,

Ants sleep

Ants dig,

Ants might like to eat a fig.

Ants bite,...

Ants die,

Ants cry.

I hope they fly to heaven.

Poems remind me of puppeteers. They pull the strings of children's hearts, minds and bodies, and make them laugh, teary, curious and productive.

As my friend Nancy Larrick would say, "Let's do a poem."